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A chalcone synthase controls the verticillium disease resistance response in both Arabidopsis thaliana and cotton

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Abstract

Verticillium wilt is a devastating disease caused by the soil-borne fungus Verticillium dahliae that causes severe wilt symptoms in more than 400 plant species, including economically important cotton. However, the molecular mechanism of plant resistance to Verticillium remains unclear. In this study, we identified an Arabidopsis mutant, vsad1 (verticillium sensitive and anthocyanin deficient 1), which showed more serious disease symptoms such as discoloration and chlorosis than wild-type Arabidopsis. vsad1 is a previously identified allele of the transparent testa 4 gene (tt4), which encodes chalcone synthase (CHS), a key enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of flavonoids. Our results showed that VSAD1 expression was induced in response to Verticillium dahliae infection. Overexpression of VSAD1 partially recovered the anthocyanin accumulation phenotype of the vsad1–1 mutant. The concentration of V. dahliae increased and ROS accumulation decreased in the vsad1 mutant after infection with V. dahliae. Knockdown of the homologous gene GhCHS in cotton plants increased their susceptibility to V. dahliae infection. Thus, we conclude that VSAD1 is involved in the regulation of plant resistance to Verticillium wilt.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31570263 and 31601140). We thank Dr. Xiaofeng Dai (Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Beijing) for providing strain Vd-gfp77. We thank Robbie Lewis, MSc, from Liwen Bianji, Edanz Group China (www.liwenbianji.cn/ac), for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004, People’s Republic of China

    Kai Jian Lei, Li Zhang, Xiao Yu Du, Yi An, Gai Hong Chang & Guo Yong An

  2. Pharmacy College of Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004, People’s Republic of China

    Kai Jian Lei

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  1. Kai Jian Lei
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  2. Li Zhang
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  4. Yi An
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Contributions

KJL performed qRT-RCR experiments, gathered and analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript. LZ performed plant physiological experiments. XYD performed map-based cloning and cotton related experiment. YA and GHC performed a large-scale screen experiment. GYA designed the research and revised manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Guo Yong An.

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Lei, K.J., Zhang, L., Du, X.Y. et al. A chalcone synthase controls the verticillium disease resistance response in both Arabidopsis thaliana and cotton. Eur J Plant Pathol 152, 769–781 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-018-1521-9

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