Expression profile analysis of the polygalacturonase-inhibiting protein genes in rice and their responses to phytohormones and fungal infection

Ectopic Expression of Gastrodia Antifungal Protein in Rice Enhances Resistance to Rice Sheath Blight Disease

Sheath blight (ShB) disease, caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kühn, is one of the most serious rice diseases. Rice breeding against ShB has been severely hindered because no major resistance genes or germplasms are available in rice. Here, we report that introduction of Gastrodia antifungal protein (GAFP) genes from Gastrodia elata B1 into rice significantly enhances resistance to rice ShB. Four GAFP genes were cloned from G. elata B1, and all displayed a strong ability to inhibit R. solani growth in plate assays. Two versions, with or without a signal peptide, for each of the four GAFP genes were introduced into XD3 and R6547 rice cultivars, and all transgenic lines displayed stronger ShB resistance than the corresponding wild-type control in both greenhouse and field conditions. Importantly, GAFP2 showed the highest ShB resistance; GAFPs with and without its signal peptide showed no significant differences in enhancing ShB resistance. We also evaluated the agronomic traits of these transgenic rice and found that ectopic expression of GAFPs in rice at appropriate levels did not affect agronomic traits other than enhancing ShB resistance. Together, these results indicate that GAFP genes, especially GAFP2, have great potential in rice breeding against ShB disease.

Unraveling the genomic reorganization of polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins in chickpea

Polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins (PGIPs) are cell wall proteins that inhibit pathogen polygalacturonases (PGs). PGIPs, like other defense-related proteins, contain extracellular leucine-rich repeats (eLRRs), which are required for pathogen PG recognition. The importance of these PGIPs in plant defense has been well documented. This study focuses on chickpea (Cicer arietinum) PGIPs (CaPGIPs) owing to the limited information available on this important crop. This study identified two novel CaPGIPs (CaPGIP3 and CaPGIP4) and computationally characterized all four CaPGIPs in the gene family, including the previously reported CaPGIP1 and CaPGIP2. The findings suggest that CaPGIP1, CaPGIP3, and CaPGIP4 proteins possess N-terminal signal peptides, ten LRRs, theoretical molecular mass, and isoelectric points comparable to other legume PGIPs. Phylogenetic analysis and multiple sequence alignment revealed that the CaPGIP1, CaPGIP3, and CaPGIP4 amino acid sequences are similar to the other PGIPs reported in legumes. In addition, several cis-acting elements that are typical of pathogen response, tissue-specific activity, hormone response, and abiotic stress-related are present in the promoters of CaPGIP1, CaPGIP3, and CaPGIP4 genes. Localization experiments showed that CaPGIP1, CaPGIP3, and CaPGIP4 are located in the cell wall or membrane. Transcript levels of CaPGIP1, CaPGIP3, and CaPGIP4 genes analyzed at untreated conditions show varied expression patterns analogous to other defense-related gene families. Interestingly, CaPGIP2 lacked a signal peptide, more than half of the LRRs, and other characteristics of a typical PGIP and subcellular localization indicated it is not located in the cell wall or membrane. The study's findings demonstrate CaPGIP1, CaPGIP3, and CaPGIP4's similarity to other legume PGIPs and suggest they might possess the potential to combat chickpea pathogens.

High Sclerotinia sclerotiorum resistance in rapeseed plant has been achieved by OsPGIP6

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, a worldwide distributed fungal pathogen, causes serious adverse effects on the yield and seed quality of rapeseed. Polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins (PGIPs) can protect the cell wall from degradation by pathogen-secreted polygalacturonases (PGs). The present study found several PGIPs from Oryza sativa, especially OsPGIP6 and 3 have much higher inhibitory activities to SsPGs than BnPGIP2 from Brassica napus. Among them, OsPGIP1, 4, 6 can significantly elevate the resistance of transgenic Arabidopsis to S. sclerotiorum. Subsequently, OsPGIP1, 3, 4, 6 were subjected to SSR resistance assay in transgenic rapeseed plants. Among which, OsPGIP6 showed the highest resistance to S. sclerotiorum. At 48 h after detached leaves inoculation, the lesion area of OE-OsPGIP6 rapeseed plants is only 17.93% of the non-transgenic line, and 22.17, 21.32, 52.78, 56.47%, compared to OE-BnPGIP2, OE-OsPGIP1, OE-OsPGIP2, OE-OsPGIP4, respectively. Furthermore, the lesion area of OE-OsPGIP6 reached 10.11% compared to WT at 72 hpi. Also, the lesion length on the stem of OE-OsPGIP6 plants was reduced by 36.83% compared to WT. These results reveal that OsPGIP family, especially OsPGIP6, has a great potential in rapeseed S. sclerotiorum-resistance breeding.

Dimethylformamide Inhibits Fungal Growth and Aflatoxin B1 Biosynthesis in Aspergillus flavus by Down-Regulating Glucose Metabolism and Amino Acid Biosynthesis

Aflatoxins (AFs) are secondary metabolites produced by plant fungal pathogens infecting crops with strong carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. Dimethylformamide (DMF) is an excellent solvent widely used in biology, medicine and other fields. However, the effect and mechanism of DMF as a common organic solvent against fungal growth and AFs production are not clear. Here, we discovered that DMF had obvious inhibitory effect against A. flavus, as well as displayed complete strong capacity to combat AFs production. Hereafter, the inhibition mechanism of DMF act on AFs production was revealed by the transcriptional expression analysis of genes referred to AFs biosynthesis. With 1% DMF treatment, two positive regulatory genes of AFs biosynthetic pathway aflS and aflR were down-regulated, leading to the suppression of the structural genes in AFs cluster like aflW, aflP. These changes may be due to the suppression of VeA and the subsequent up-regulation of FluG. Exposure to DMF caused the damage of cell wall and the dysfunction of mitochondria. In particular, it is worth noting that most amino acid biosynthesis and glucose metabolism pathway were down-regulated by 1% DMF using Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Taken together, these RNA-Seq data strongly suggest that DMF inhibits fungal growth and aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁) production by A. flavus via the synergistic interference of glucose metabolism, amino acid biosynthesis and oxidative phosphorylation.

OsPGIP1-Mediated Resistance to Bacterial Leaf Streak in Rice is Beyond Responsive to the Polygalacturonase of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola

Polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins (PGIPs) have been shown to recognize fungal polygalacturonases (PGs), which initiate innate immunity in various plant species. Notably, the connection between rice OsPGIPs and PGs in Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola (Xoc), which causes bacterial leaf streak (BLS), remains unclear. Here, we show that OsPGIP1 was strongly induced after inoculating rice with the Xoc strain RS105. Furthermore, OsPGIP1-overexpressing (OV) and RNA interference (RNAi) rice lines increased and decreased, respectively, the resistance of rice to RS105, indicating that OsPGIP1 contributes to BLS resistance. Subsequently, we generated the unique PG mutant RS105Δpg, the virulence of which is attenuated compared to that of RS105. Surprisingly, the lesion lengths caused by RS105Δpg were similar to those caused by RS105 in the OV lines compared with wild-type ZH11 with reduced Xoc susceptibility. However, the lesion lengths caused by RS105Δpg were still significantly shorter in the OV lines than in ZH11, implying that OsPGIP1-mediated BLS resistance could respond to other virulence factors in addition to PGs. To explore the OsPGIP1-mediated resistance, RNA-seq analysis were performed and showed that many plant cell wall-associated genes and several MYB transcription factor genes were specifically expressed or more highly induced in the OV lines compared to ZH11 postinoculation with RS105. Consistent with the expression of the differentially expressed genes, the OV plants accumulated a higher content of jasmonic acid (JA) than ZH11 postinoculation with RS105, suggesting that the OsPGIP1-mediated resistance to BLS is mainly dependent on the plant cell wall-associated immunity and the JA signaling pathway.

ZmPGIP3 Gene Encodes a Polygalacturonase-Inhibiting Protein that Enhances Resistance to Sheath Blight in Rice

Plant polygalacturonase-inhibiting protein (PGIP) is a structural protein that can specifically recognize and bind to fungal polygalacturonase (PG). PGIP plays an important role in plant antifungal activity. In this study, a maize PGIP gene, namely ZmPGIP3, was cloned and characterized. Agarose diffusion assay suggested that ZmPGIP3 could inhibit the activity of PG. ZmPGIP3 expression was significantly induced by wounding, Rhizoctonia solani infection, jasmonate, and salicylic acid. ZmPGIP3 might be related to disease resistance. The gene encoding ZmPGIP3 was posed under the control of the ubiquitin promoter and constitutively expressed in transgenic rice. In an R. solani infection assay, ZmPGIP3 transgenic rice was more resistant to sheath blight than the wild-type rice regardless of the inoculated plant part (leaves or sheaths). Digital gene expression analysis indicated that the expression of some rice PGIP genes significantly increased in ZmPGIP3 transgenic rice, suggesting that ZmPGIP3 might activate the expression of some rice PGIP genes to resist sheath blight. Our investigation of the agronomic traits of ZmPGIP3 transgenic rice showed that ZmPGIP3 overexpression in rice did not show any detrimental phenotypic or agronomic effect. ZmPGIP3 is a promising candidate gene in the transgenic breeding for sheath blight resistance and crop improvement.

Amino acid substitutions in a polygalacturonase inhibiting protein (OsPGIP2) increases sheath blight resistance in rice

BACKGROUND

An economic strategy to control plant disease is to improve plant defense to pathogens by deploying resistance genes. Plant polygalacturonase inhibiting proteins (PGIPs) have a vital role in plant defense against phytopathogenic fungi by inhibiting fungal polygalacturonase (PG) activity. We previously reported that rice PGIP1 (OsPGIP1) inhibits PG activity in Rhizoctonia solani, the causal agent of rice sheath blight (SB), and is involved in regulating resistance to SB.

RESULT

Here, we report that OsPGIP2, the protein ortholog of OsPGIP1, does not possess PGIP activity; however, a few amino acid substitutions in a derivative of OsPGIP2, of which we provide support for L233F being the causative mutation, appear to impart OsPGIP2 with PG inhibition capability. Furthermore, the overexpression of mutated OsPGIP2^L233F in rice significantly increased the resistance of transgenic lines and decreased SB disease rating scores. OsPGIP2^L233F transgenic lines displayed an increased ability to reduce the tissue degradation caused by R. solani PGs as compared to control plants. Rice plants overexpressing OsPGIP2^L233F showed no difference in agronomic traits and grain yield as compared to controls, thus demonstrating its potential use in rice breeding programs.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, our results provide a new target gene for breeding SB resistance through genome-editing or natural allele mining.

Amino acid substitutions in a polygalacturonase inhibiting protein (OsPGIP2) increases sheath blight resistance in rice

BACKGROUND

An economic strategy to control plant disease is to improve plant defense to pathogens by deploying resistance genes. Plant polygalacturonase inhibiting proteins (PGIPs) have a vital role in plant defense against phytopathogenic fungi by inhibiting fungal polygalacturonase (PG) activity. We previously reported that rice PGIP1 (OsPGIP1) inhibits PG activity in Rhizoctonia solani, the causal agent of rice sheath blight (SB), and is involved in regulating resistance to SB.

RESULT

Here, we report that OsPGIP2, the protein ortholog of OsPGIP1, does not possess PGIP activity; however, a few amino acid substitutions in a derivative of OsPGIP2, of which we provide support for L233F being the causative mutation, appear to impart OsPGIP2 with PG inhibition capability. Furthermore, the overexpression of mutated OsPGIP2^L233F in rice significantly increased the resistance of transgenic lines and decreased SB disease rating scores. OsPGIP2^L233F transgenic lines displayed an increased ability to reduce the tissue degradation caused by R. solani PGs as compared to control plants. Rice plants overexpressing OsPGIP2^L233F showed no difference in agronomic traits and grain yield as compared to controls, thus demonstrating its potential use in rice breeding programs.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, our results provide a new target gene for breeding SB resistance through genome-editing or natural allele mining.

Overexpression of OsPGIP2 confers Sclerotinia sclerotiorum resistance in Brassica napus through increased activation of defense mechanisms

Sclerotinia stem rot (SSR), caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is the most serious disease affecting the yield of the agriculturally and economically important crop Brassica napus (rapeseed). In this study, Oryza sativa polygalacturonase-inhibiting protein 2 (OsPGIP2) was found to effectively enhanced rapeseed immunity against S. sclerotiorum infection. Leaf extracts of B. napus plants overexpressing OsPGIP2 showed enhanced S. sclerotiorum resistance by delaying pathogen infection. The constitutive expression of OsPGIP2 in rapeseed plants provided a rapid and effective defense response, which included the production of reactive oxygen species, interactions with S. sclerotiorum polygalacturonases (SsPG3 and SsPG6), and effects on the expression of defense genes. RNA sequencing analysis revealed that the pathogen induced many differentially expressed genes associated with pathogen recognition, redox homeostasis, mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling cascades, hormone signaling pathways, pathogen-/defense-related genes, and cell wall-related genes. The overexpression of OsPGIP2 also led to constitutively increased cell wall cellulose and hemicellulose contents in stems without compromising seed quality. The results demonstrate that OsPGIP2 plays a major role in rapeseed defense mechanisms, and we propose a model for OsPGIP2-conferred resistance to S. sclerotiorum in these plants.

The polygalacturonase-inhibiting protein 4 (OsPGIP4), a potential component of the qBlsr5a locus, confers resistance to bacterial leaf streak in rice

OsPGIP4 overexpression enhances resistance to bacterial leaf streak in rice. Polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins are thought to play important roles in the innate immunity of rice against fungi. Here, we show that the chromosomal location of OsPGIP4 coincides with the major bacterial leaf streak resistance quantitative trait locus qBlsr5a on the short arm of chromosome 5. OsPGIP4 expression was up-regulated upon inoculation with the pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola strain RS105. OsPGIP4 overexpression enhanced the resistance of the susceptible rice variety Zhonghua 11 to RS105. In contrast, repressing OsPGIP4 expression resulted in an increase in disease lesions caused by RS105 in Zhonghua 11 and in Acc8558, a qBlsr5a resistance donor. More interestingly, upon inoculation, the activated expression of pathogenesis-related genes was attenuated for those genes involved in the salicylic acid pathway, while the activated expression of jasmonic acid pathway markers was increased in the overexpression lines. Our results not only provide the first report that rice PGIP could enhance resistant against a bacterial pathogen but also indicate that OsPGIP4 is a potential component of the qBlsr5a locus for bacterial leaf streak in rice.

Overexpression of OsPGIP1 Enhances Rice Resistance to Sheath Blight

Rice sheath blight (SB), caused by necrotrophic pathogen Rhizoctonia solani, is one of the most destructive rice diseases, and no major resistance genes are available. Polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins (PGIP) are extracellular leucine-rich repeat proteins and play important roles in plant defense against different pathogenic fungi by counteracting secreted fungal polygalacturonases (PG). However, the role of PGIP in conferring resistance to rice SB remains to be thoroughly investigated. Here, we showed that OsPGIP1 is capable of inhibiting PG derived from R. solani. Our real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction results indicated that resistant rice 'YSBR1' and 'Jasmine 85' express significantly higher levels of OsPGIP1 than susceptible 'Lemont'. Our results also show that OsPGIP1 is most highly expressed at the late tillering stage in the sheath of YSBR1, coinciding with the critical stage of SB development in field. More importantly, the OsPGIP1 level is highly elevated by inoculation with R. solani in resistant cultivars but not in susceptible Lemont. Overexpression of OsPGIP1 significantly increased rice resistance to SB and inhibited tissue degradation caused by R. solani-secreted PG. Furthermore, OsPGIP1 overexpression did not affect rice agronomic traits or yield components. Together, our results not only demonstrate the important role of OsPGIP1 in combatting the rice SB disease but also provide a new avenue to the improvement of rice SB resistance by manipulating an endogenous gene.

Molecular and Functional Characterization of a Polygalacturonase-Inhibiting Protein from Cynanchum komarovii That Confers Fungal Resistance in Arabidopsis

Compliance with ethical standards: This study did not involve human participants and animals, and the plant of interest is not an endangered species.

Polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins (PGIPs) are leucine-rich repeat proteins that plants produce against polygalacturonase, a key virulence agent in pathogens. In this paper, we cloned and purified CkPGIP1, a gene product from Cynanchum komarovii that effectively inhibits polygalacturonases from Botrytis cinerea and Rhizoctonia solani. We found the expression of CkPGIP1 to be induced in response to salicylic acid, wounding, and infection with B. cinerea and R. solani. In addition, transgenic overexpression in Arabidopsis enhanced resistance against B. cinerea. Furthermore, CkPGIP1 obtained from transgenic Arabidopsis inhibited the activity of B. cinerea and R. solani polygalacturonases by 62.7–66.4% and 56.5–60.2%, respectively. Docking studies indicated that the protein interacts strongly with the B1-sheet at the N-terminus of the B. cinerea polygalacturonase, and with the C-terminus of the polygalacturonase from R. solani. This study highlights the significance of CkPGIP1 in plant disease resistance, and its possible application to manage fungal pathogens.

Molecular and Functional Characterization of a Polygalacturonase-Inhibiting Protein from Cynanchum komarovii That Confers Fungal Resistance in Arabidopsis

Compliance with ethical standards: This study did not involve human participants and animals, and the plant of interest is not an endangered species. Polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins (PGIPs) are leucine-rich repeat proteins that plants produce against polygalacturonase, a key virulence agent in pathogens. In this paper, we cloned and purified CkPGIP1, a gene product from Cynanchum komarovii that effectively inhibits polygalacturonases from Botrytis cinerea and Rhizoctonia solani. We found the expression of CkPGIP1 to be induced in response to salicylic acid, wounding, and infection with B. cinerea and R. solani. In addition, transgenic overexpression in Arabidopsis enhanced resistance against B. cinerea. Furthermore, CkPGIP1 obtained from transgenic Arabidopsis inhibited the activity of B. cinerea and R. solani polygalacturonases by 62.7-66.4% and 56.5-60.2%, respectively. Docking studies indicated that the protein interacts strongly with the B1-sheet at the N-terminus of the B. cinerea polygalacturonase, and with the C-terminus of the polygalacturonase from R. solani. This study highlights the significance of CkPGIP1 in plant disease resistance, and its possible application to manage fungal pathogens.

Immuno-affinity purification of PglPGIP1, a polygalacturonase-inhibitor protein from pearl millet: studies on its inhibition of fungal polygalacturonases and role in resistance against the downy mildew pathogen

Polygalacturonase-inhibitor proteins (PGIPs) are important plant defense proteins which modulate the activity of microbial polygalacturonases (PGs) leading to elicitor accumulation. Very few studies have been carried out towards understanding the role of PGIPs in monocot host defense. Hence, present study was taken up to characterize a native PGIP from pearl millet and understand its role in resistance against downy mildew. A native glycosylated PGIP (PglPGIP1) of ~43 kDa and pI 5.9 was immunopurified from pearl millet. Comparative inhibition studies involving PglPGIP1 and its non-glycosylated form (rPglPGIP1; recombinant pearl millet PGIP produced in Escherichia coli) against two PGs, PG-II isoform from Aspergillus niger (AnPGII) and PG-III isoform from Fusarium moniliforme, showed both PGIPs to inhibit only AnPGII. The protein glycosylation was found to impact only the pH and temperature stability of PGIP, with the native form showing relatively higher stability to pH and temperature changes. Temporal accumulation of both PglPGIP1 protein (western blot and ELISA) and transcripts (real time PCR) in resistant and susceptible pearl millet cultivars showed significant Sclerospora graminicola-induced accumulation only in the incompatible interaction. Further, confocal PGIP immunolocalization results showed a very intense immuno-decoration with highest fluorescent intensities observed at the outer epidermal layer and vascular bundles in resistant cultivar only. This is the first native PGIP isolated from millets and the results indicate a role for PglPGIP1 in host defense. This could further be exploited in devising pearl millet cultivars with better pathogen resistance.

Functional analysis of OsPGIP1 in rice sheath blight resistance

As one of the most devastating diseases of rice, sheath blight causes severe rice yield loss. However, little progress has been made in rice breeding for sheath blight resistance. It has been reported that polygalacturonase inhibiting proteins can inhibit the degradation of the plant cell wall by polygalacturonases from pathogens. Here, we prokaryotically expressed and purified OsPGIP1 protein, which was verified by Western blot analysis. Activity assay confirmed the inhibitory activity of OsPGIP1 against the PGase from Rhizoctonia solani. In addition, the location of OsPGIP1 was determined by subcellular localization. Subsequently, we overexpressed OsPGIP1 in Zhonghua 11 (Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica), and applied PCR and Southern blot analysis to identify the positive T0 transgenic plants with single-copy insertions. Germination assay of the seeds from T1 transgenic plants was carried out to select homozygous OsPGIP1 transgenic lines, and the expression levels of OsPGIP1 in these lines were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR. Field testing of R. solani inoculation showed that the sheath blight resistance of the transgenic rice was significantly improved. Furthermore, the levels of sheath blight resistance were in accordance with the expression levels of OsPGIP1 in the transgenic lines. Our results reveal the functions of OsPGIP1 and its resistance mechanism to rice sheath blight, which will facilitate rice breeding for sheath blight resistance.

An update on polygalacturonase-inhibiting protein (PGIP), a leucine-rich repeat protein that protects crop plants against pathogens

Polygalacturonase inhibiting proteins (PGIPs) are cell wall proteins that inhibit the pectin-depolymerizing activity of polygalacturonases secreted by microbial pathogens and insects. These ubiquitous inhibitors have a leucine-rich repeat structure that is strongly conserved in monocot and dicot plants. Previous reviews have summarized the importance of PGIP in plant defense and the structural basis of PG-PGIP interaction; here we update the current knowledge about PGIPs with the recent findings on the composition and evolution of pgip gene families, with a special emphasis on legume and cereal crops. We also update the information about the inhibition properties of single pgip gene products against microbial PGs and the results, including field tests, showing the capacity of PGIP to protect crop plants against fungal, oomycetes and bacterial pathogens.

GmPGIP3 enhanced resistance to both take-all and common root rot diseases in transgenic wheat

Take-all (caused by the fungal pathogen Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici, Ggt) and common root rot (caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana) are devastating root diseases of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Development of resistant wheat cultivars has been a challenge since no resistant wheat accession is available. GmPGIP3, one member of polygalacturonase-inhibiting protein (PGIP) family in soybean (Glycine max), exhibited inhibition activity against fungal endopolygalacturonases (PGs) in vitro. In this study, the GmPGIP3 transgenic wheat plants were generated and used to assess the effectiveness of GmPGIP3 in protecting wheat from the infection of Ggt and B. sorokiniana. Four independent transgenic lines were identified by genomic PCR, Southern blot, and reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR). The introduced GmPGIP3 was integrated into the genomes of these transgenic lines and could be expressed. The expressing GmPGIP3 protein in these transgenic wheat lines could inhibit the PGs produced by Ggt and B. sorokiniana. The disease response assessments postinoculation showed that the GmPGIP3-expressing transgenic wheat lines displayed significantly enhanced resistance to both take-all and common root rot diseases caused by the infection of Ggt and B. sorokiniana. These data suggested that GmPGIP3 is an attractive gene resource in improving resistance to both take-all and common root rot diseases in wheat.

Experimental and bioinformatic characterization of a recombinant polygalacturonase-inhibitor protein from pearl millet and its interaction with fungal polygalacturonases

Polygalacturonases (PGs) are hydrolytic enzymes employed by several phytopathogens to weaken the plant cell wall by degrading homopolygalacturonan, a major constituent of pectin. Plants fight back by employing polygalacturonase-inhibitor proteins (PGIPs). The present study compared the inhibition potential of pearl millet PGIP (Pennisetum glaucum; PglPGIP1) with the known inhibition of Phaseolus vulgaris PGIP (PvPGIP2) against two PGs, the PG-II isoform from Aspergillus niger (AnPGII) and the PG-III isoform from Fusarium moniliforme (FmPGIII). The key rationale was to elucidate the relationship between the extent of sequence similarity of the PGIPs and the corresponding PG inhibition potential. First, a pearl millet pgip gene (Pglpgip1) was isolated and phylogenetically placed among monocot PGIPs alongside foxtail millet (Setaria italica). Upstream sequence analysis of Pglpgip1 identified important cis-elements responsive to light, plant stress hormones, and anoxic stress. PglPGIP1, heterologously produced in Escherichia coli, partially inhibited AnPGII non-competitively with a pH optimum between 4.0 and 4.5, and showed no inhibition against FmPGIII. Docking analysis showed that the concave surface of PglPGIP1 interacted strongly with the N-terminal region of AnPGII away from the active site, whereas it weakly interacted with the C-terminus of FmPGIII. Interestingly, PglPGIP1 and PvPGIP2 employed similar motif regions with few identical amino acids for interaction with AnPGII at non-substrate-binding sites; however, they engaged different regions of AnPGII. Computational mutagenesis predicted D126 (PglPGIP1)-K39 (AnPGII) to be the most significant binding contact in the PglPGIP1-AnPGII complex. Such protein-protein interaction studies are crucial in the future generation of designer host proteins for improved resistance against ever-evolving pathogen virulence factors.

Overexpression of OsSWEET5 in rice causes growth retardation and precocious senescence

As a novel sugar transporter family, SWEETs play important roles in plant growth and development. Here, we characterized a SWEET gene named OsSWEET5 through its overexpression in rice. Heterologous expression assay indicated that OsSWEET5 encoded a galactose transporter in yeast. OsSWEET5-overexpressing plants displayed the phenotypes of growth retardation and precocious senescence at seedling stage. GC-MS analysis showed that the sugar levels were largely altered in the leaves of the OsSWEET5-overexpressing plants. Molecular analysis revealed that these phenotypes might be due to the transcriptional changes of the genes involved in sugar metabolism and transport. In addition, the transgenic plants showed a lower level of auxin with altered transcription of genes involved in auxin signaling and translocation pathways. However, no obvious phenotype was observed between the amiRNA-OsSWEET5 transgenic lines and WT plants, which could be a result of the functional redundancy of the galactose transporters in rice. Taken together, our findings suggest that OsSWEET5 plays a crucial role in regulating the crosstalk between sugar and auxin in rice.