Abstract
Plants have evolved a series of sophisticated defense mechanisms to help them from harm. Ethylene Response Factor (ERF) plays pivotal roles in plant immune reactions, however, its underlying mechanism in maize with a defensive function to Exserohilum turcicum (E. turcicum) remains poorly understood. Here, we isolated and characterized a novel ERF transcription factor, designated ZmERF061, from maize. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that ZmERF061 is a member of B3 group in the ERF family. qRT-PCR assays showed that the expression of ZmERF061 is significantly induced by E. turcicum inoculation and hormone treatments with salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA). ZmERF061 was proved to function as a nucleus-localized transcription activator and specifically bind to the GCC-box element. zmerf061 mutant lines resulted in enhanced susceptibility to E. turcicum via decreasing the expression of ZmPR10.1 and ZmPR10.2 and the activity of antioxidant defense system. zmerf061 mutant lines increased the expression of the SA signaling-related gene ZmPR1a and decreased the expression of the jasmonic acid (JA) signaling-related gene ZmLox1 after infection with E. turcicum. In addition, ZmERF061 could interact with ZmMPK6-1. These results suggested that ZmERF061 plays an important role in response to E. turcicum and may be useful in genetic engineering breeding.
Highlights
Northern corn leaf blight (NCLB) caused by Exserohilum turcicum (E. turcicum) is one of the most destructive fungal diseases of maize in the world (Leach et al, 1977; GalianoCarneiro and Miedaner, 2017)
Sequence analysis showed that ZmERF061 is characterized as a member of B3 group in the Ethylene Response Factor (ERF) family (Figure 2A)
Nucleus-localized ZmERF061 plays a positive role in plant resistance to E. turcicum (Figures 4, 6)
Summary
Northern corn leaf blight (NCLB) caused by Exserohilum turcicum (E. turcicum) is one of the most destructive fungal diseases of maize in the world (Leach et al, 1977; GalianoCarneiro and Miedaner, 2017). ERF transcription activators have been shown to positively regulate plant immune response against pathogens. AtERF96 in Arabidopsis resulted in a significantly enhanced resistance against Botrytis cinerea (B. cinerea) through activating the expression of defense related genes, including PLANT DEFENSIN 1.2 (PDF1.2) (Berrocal-Lobo et al, 2002; Lorenzo et al, 2003; Pré et al, 2008; Moffat et al, 2012; Catinot et al, 2015; Zhang et al, 2015). AtERF11 positively regulated Arabidopsis resistance to Pst DC3000 by directly activating the transcription of AtBT4, which depends on the SA and ET signaling pathways (Zheng et al, 2019). A large number of ERF genes have been shown to regulate plant resistance against pathogens in many species, its underlying mechanism in maize with a defensive function to E. turcicum remains poorly understood. These results suggested that ZmERF061 plays an important role in response to E. turcicum and may be useful in genetic engineering breeding
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