Abstract
The plant disease resistance system involves a very complex regulatory network in which jasmonates play a key role in response to external biotic or abiotic stresses. As inhibitors of the jasmonic acid (JA) signaling pathway, JASMONATE ZIM domain (JAZ) proteins have been identified in many plant species, and their functions are gradually being clarified. In this study, 26 JAZ genes were identified in tomato. The physical and chemical properties, predicted subcellular localization, gene structure, cis-acting elements, and interspecies collinearity of 26 SlJAZ genes were subsequently analyzed. RNA-seq data combined with qRT-PCR analysis data showed that the expression of most SlJAZ genes were induced in response to Stemphylium lycopersici, methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and salicylic acid (SA). Tobacco rattle virus RNA2-based VIGS vector (TRV2)-SlJAZ25 plants were more resistant to tomato gray leaf spots than TRV2-00 plants. Therefore, we speculated that SlJAZ25 played a negative regulatory role in tomato resistance to gray leaf spots. Based on combining the results of previous studies and those of our experiments, we speculated that SlJAZ25 might be closely related to JA and SA hormone regulation. SlJAZ25 interacted with SlJAR1, SlCOI1, SlMYC2, and other resistance-related genes to form a regulatory network, and these genes played an important role in the regulation of tomato gray leaf spots. The subcellular localization results showed that the SlJAZ25 gene was located in the nucleus. Overall, this study is the first to identify and analyze JAZ family genes in tomato via bioinformatics approaches, clarifying the regulatory role of SlJAZ25 genes in tomato resistance to gray leaf spots and providing new ideas for improving plant disease resistance.
Highlights
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most widely planted horticultural crop species worldwide and has obvious economic benefits
We subsequently reduced the expression of SlJAZ25 in plants by virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS), and the phenotypic results showed that the control (CK) plants were more susceptible than the SlJAZ25-silenced tomato plants
The tomato protein database was screened with HMMER 3.0, and the domains were verified with the SMART and CDD online tools
Summary
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most widely planted horticultural crop species worldwide and has obvious economic benefits. During the process of plant growth, various stresses (e.g., diseases, insect pests, drought, and cold) lead to a straight decline in yield and quality. There are many ways for plants to protect themselves, such as programmed cell death, secretion of antibacterial substances, and production of endogenous hormones (salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, ethylene) [2]. For plants to better adapt to changes in their environment, evolution of their genome is important [3]. Members of all kinds of gene families perform specific functions and connect to form a network that controls plant disease resistance; in addition, other factors, such as transcription and epigenetic regulation, play an important role [4,5,6]. Discovering and further elucidating the roles of these genes is the focus of current research
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