Abstract
The vascular pathogen Verticillium dahliae infects the roots of plants to cause Verticillium wilt. The molecular mechanisms underlying V. dahliae virulence and host resistance remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate that a secretory protein, VdSCP41, functions as an intracellular effector that promotes V. dahliae virulence. The Arabidopsis master immune regulators CBP60g and SARD1 and cotton GhCBP60b are targeted by VdSCP41. VdSCP41 binds the C-terminal portion of CBP60g to inhibit its transcription factor activity. Further analyses reveal a transcription activation domain within CBP60g that is required for VdSCP41 targeting. Mutations in both CBP60g and SARD1 compromise Arabidopsis resistance against V. dahliae and partially impair VdSCP41-mediated virulence. Moreover, virus-induced silencing of GhCBP60b compromises cotton resistance to V. dahliae. This work uncovers a virulence strategy in which the V. dahliae secretory protein VdSCP41 directly targets plant transcription factors to inhibit immunity, and reveals CBP60g, SARD1 and GhCBP60b as crucial components governing V. dahliae resistance.
Highlights
The vascular pathogen Verticillium dahliae infects a broad range of plants and causes devastating diseases
A mutant carrying a targeted deletion of VdSCP41 (VdDscp41) was isolated (Figure 1A) and shown to display significantly reduced virulence compared with WT strain V. dahliae strain 592 (V592)
We identified VdSCP41 as an intracellular effector that is crucial for V. dahliae virulence
Summary
The vascular pathogen Verticillium dahliae infects a broad range of plants and causes devastating diseases. Protein-protein interaction and biochemical studies indicated VdSCP41 associates with a master immune regulator in Arabidopsis called CBP60g. This interaction interferes with CBP60g’s ability to activate the defense-related genes. ChIP-seq analyses have revealed that CBP60g and SARD1 directly bind to the promoters of a number of genes, thereby regulating pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs)-triggered immunity (PTI), effector-triggered immunity (ETI) and systemic acquired resistance (SAR) (Sun et al, 2015), indicating their broad role in the regulation of plant immunity. We identified VdSCP41 as a virulence effector that suppresses plant immunity induced by PAMPs. VdSCP41 interacts with Arabidopsis CBP60g and SARD1 and modulates their transcription factor activity. Our findings revealed that CBP60g, SARD1 and GhCBP60b are novel components that govern V. dahliae resistance and that these proteins are modulated by a secretory effector VdSCP41
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