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Romero-Rodríguez B, Petek M, Jiao C, Križnik M, Zagorščak M, Fei Z, Bejarano ER, Gruden K, Castillo AG. Transcriptional and epigenetic changes during tomato yellow leaf curl virus infection in tomato. BMC PLANT BIOLOGY 2023; 23:651. [PMID: 38110861 PMCID: PMC10726652 DOI: 10.1186/s12870-023-04534-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 10/17/2023] [Indexed: 12/20/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Geminiviruses are DNA plant viruses that cause highly damaging diseases affecting crops worldwide. During the infection, geminiviruses hijack cellular processes, suppress plant defenses, and cause a massive reprogramming of the infected cells leading to major changes in the whole plant homeostasis. The advances in sequencing technologies allow the simultaneous analysis of multiple aspects of viral infection at a large scale, generating new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying plant-virus interactions. However, an integrative study of the changes in the host transcriptome, small RNA profile and methylome during a geminivirus infection has not been performed yet. Using a time-scale approach, we aim to decipher the gene regulation in tomato in response to the infection with the geminivirus, tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV). RESULTS We showed that tomato undergoes substantial transcriptional and post-transcriptional changes upon TYLCV infection and identified the main altered regulatory pathways. Interestingly, although the principal plant defense-related processes, gene silencing and the immune response were induced, this cannot prevent the establishment of the infection. Moreover, we identified extra- and intracellular immune receptors as targets for the deregulated microRNAs (miRNAs) and established a network for those that also produced phased secondary small interfering RNAs (phasiRNAs). On the other hand, there were no significant genome-wide changes in tomato methylome at 14 days post infection, the time point at which the symptoms were general, and the amount of viral DNA had reached its maximum level, but we were able to identify differentially methylated regions that could be involved in the transcriptional regulation of some of the differentially expressed genes. CONCLUSION We have conducted a comprehensive and reliable study on the changes at transcriptional, post-transcriptional and epigenetic levels in tomato throughout TYLCV infection. The generated genomic information is substantial for understanding the genetic, molecular and physiological changes caused by TYLCV infection in tomato.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beatriz Romero-Rodríguez
- Instituto de Hortofruticultura Subtropical y Mediterránea "La Mayora" (IHSM "La Mayora"), Universidad de Málaga-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (UMA-CSIC), Boulevard Louis Pasteur, 49, Málaga, 29010, Spain
| | - Marko Petek
- Department of Biotechnology and Systems Biology, National Institute of Biology, Večna Pot 111, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Chen Jiao
- Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
- The Key Lab of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects of Ministry of Agriculture, The Key Laboratory of Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Maja Križnik
- Department of Biotechnology and Systems Biology, National Institute of Biology, Večna Pot 111, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Maja Zagorščak
- Department of Biotechnology and Systems Biology, National Institute of Biology, Večna Pot 111, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Zhangjun Fei
- Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Eduardo R Bejarano
- Instituto de Hortofruticultura Subtropical y Mediterránea "La Mayora" (IHSM "La Mayora"), Universidad de Málaga-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (UMA-CSIC), Boulevard Louis Pasteur, 49, Málaga, 29010, Spain
| | - Kristina Gruden
- Department of Biotechnology and Systems Biology, National Institute of Biology, Večna Pot 111, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Araceli G Castillo
- Instituto de Hortofruticultura Subtropical y Mediterránea "La Mayora" (IHSM "La Mayora"), Universidad de Málaga-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (UMA-CSIC), Boulevard Louis Pasteur, 49, Málaga, 29010, Spain.
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Hu G, Ge X, Wang P, Chen A, Li F, Wu J. The cotton miR171a-SCL6 module mediates plant resistance through regulating GhPR1 expression. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY : PPB 2023; 202:107995. [PMID: 37666042 DOI: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.107995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Revised: 08/23/2023] [Accepted: 08/30/2023] [Indexed: 09/06/2023]
Abstract
Plants have developed intricate defense mechanisms in response to fluctuating environmental cues, including the use of microRNA (miRNA) as post-transcriptional regulators. However, the specific mechanisms through which miRNA contributes to disease resistance remain largely elusive. While the miR171-SCLs have been investigated in an eclectic array of plants, there has been a notable scarcity of research specifically focused on cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). In our previous miRNA-sequencing analysis, we found that ghr-miR171a displayed a differential response to infections by Verticillium dahliae. In this study, we further investigated the function of the miR171a-SCL6 module in cotton during V. dahliae infection. The ghr-miR171a was confirmed to direct the cleavage of GhSCL6 mRNA in the post-transcriptional process, as evidenced by 5' RLM-RACE, β-glucuronidase (GUS) histochemical staining and enzyme activity assay. Interestingly, we found that overexpressing ghr-miR171a reduced cotton plants' resistance to V. dahliae, while suppressing ghr-miR171a increased the plants' defense capacity. The GhSCL6 protein, when fused with green fluorescent protein (GFP), localizes in the cell nucleus, indicating its potential role in gene regulation. This was further corroborated by yeast two-hybrid assays, which verified GhSCL6's transcriptional activation ability. Through quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR (qRT-PCR), luciferase (LUC) fluorescence, and yeast one-hybrid assays, we found that GhSCL6 binds to the GT-box element of the GhPR1 promoter, activating its expression and thereby enhancing plant disease resistance. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that the cotton miR171a-SCL6 module regulates Verticillium wilt resistance in plants through the post-transcriptional process. This insight may offer new perspectives for disease resistance strategies in cotton.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guang Hu
- National Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, 455000, China; State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
| | - Xiaoyang Ge
- National Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, 455000, China
| | - Peng Wang
- National Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, 455000, China
| | - Aimin Chen
- The Key Laboratory for the Creation of Cotton Varieties in the Northwest, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Join Hope Seeds Co. Ltd, Changji, 831100, China
| | - Fuguang Li
- National Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, 455000, China.
| | - Jiahe Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
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Tong A, Yuan Q, Wang S, Peng J, Lu Y, Zheng H, Lin L, Chen H, Gong Y, Chen J, Yan F. Altered accumulation of osa-miR171b contributes to rice stripe virus infection by regulating disease symptoms. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2017; 68:4357-4367. [PMID: 28922766 PMCID: PMC5853540 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erx230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2017] [Accepted: 06/09/2017] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Viral infection affects the pattern of plant miRNA expression. It has been presumed that reduction of miR171 and several other miRNAs influences viral symptoms in plants. We here experimentally demonstrate the association of osa-miR171b with rice stripe virus (RSV) symptoms in rice. Inhibition of osa-miR171b caused stunting with reduced chlorophyll content in leaves similar to viral symptoms. Overexpression of osa-miR171b by an artificial miRNA extended vegetative growth and enhanced chlorophyll accumulation in leaves. Tillers were thicker, and panicles were longer with more spikelets in plants overexpressing osa-miR171b than in controls, but there were no differences in tiller numbers. Targets of osa-miR171b, OsSCL6-IIa, OsSCL6-IIb, and OsSCL6-IIc, were respectively up- and down-regulated in plants where osa-miR171b was inhibited or overexpressed. In plants overexpressing osa-miR171b, five positive regulators for heading development, Ehd1, Ehd2, Ehd3, Ehd4, and Hd3a were up-regulated, while the negative regulator Ghd7 was down-regulated. Plants overexpressing osa-miR171b were less susceptible to RSV and virus symptoms were attenuated. Taken together, the results reveal that a reduction of osa-miR171b in RSV-infected rice contributes to RSV symptoms, and provide more insight into the roles of osa-miR171b in rice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aizi Tong
- The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base for Sustainable Control of Pest and Disease, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MOA of China and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Virology and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China
- College of Plant Protection, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
| | - Quan Yuan
- The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base for Sustainable Control of Pest and Disease, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MOA of China and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Virology and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China
- School of Marine Sciences, Ningbo University, Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Ningbo, China
| | - Shu Wang
- The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base for Sustainable Control of Pest and Disease, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MOA of China and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Virology and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China
- College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jiejun Peng
- The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base for Sustainable Control of Pest and Disease, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MOA of China and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Virology and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yuwen Lu
- The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base for Sustainable Control of Pest and Disease, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MOA of China and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Virology and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hongying Zheng
- The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base for Sustainable Control of Pest and Disease, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MOA of China and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Virology and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China
| | - Lin Lin
- The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base for Sustainable Control of Pest and Disease, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MOA of China and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Virology and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hairu Chen
- College of Plant Protection, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
| | - Yifu Gong
- School of Marine Sciences, Ningbo University, Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Ningbo, China
| | - Jianping Chen
- The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base for Sustainable Control of Pest and Disease, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MOA of China and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Virology and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China
| | - Fei Yan
- The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base for Sustainable Control of Pest and Disease, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MOA of China and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Virology and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China
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Zhang H, Sonnewald U. Differences and commonalities of plant responses to single and combined stresses. THE PLANT JOURNAL : FOR CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2017; 90:839-855. [PMID: 28370754 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.13557] [Citation(s) in RCA: 116] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2016] [Revised: 03/20/2017] [Accepted: 03/27/2017] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
In natural or agricultural environments, plants are constantly exposed to a wide range of biotic and abiotic stresses. Given the forecasted global climate changes, plants will cope with heat waves, drought periods and pathogens at the same time or consecutively. Heat and drought cause opposing physiological responses, while pathogens may or may not profit from climate changes depending on their lifestyle. Several studies have been conducted to find stress-specific signatures or stress-independent commonalities. Previously this has been done by comparing different single stress treatments. This approach has been proven difficult since most studies, comparing single and combined stress conditions, have come to the conclusion that each stress treatment results in specific transcriptional changes. Although transcriptional changes at the level of individual genes are highly variable and stress-specific, central metabolic and signaling responses seem to be common, often leading to an overall reduced plant growth. Understanding how specific transcriptional changes are linked to stress adaptations and identifying central hubs controlling this interaction will be the challenge for the coming years. In this review, we will summarize current knowledge on plant responses to different individual and combined stresses and try to find a common thread potentially underlying these responses. We will begin with a brief summary of known physiological, metabolic, transcriptional and hormonal responses to individual stresses, elucidate potential commonalities and conflicts and finally we will describe results obtained during combined stress experiments. Here we will concentrate on simultaneous application of stress conditions but we will also touch consequences of sequential stress treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haina Zhang
- Department of Biology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Staudtstrasse 5, 91058, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Uwe Sonnewald
- Department of Biology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Staudtstrasse 5, 91058, Erlangen, Germany
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Wang W, Luan Y. The advance of tomato disease-related microRNAs. PLANT CELL REPORTS 2015; 34:1089-97. [PMID: 25773761 DOI: 10.1007/s00299-015-1782-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2015] [Revised: 02/25/2015] [Accepted: 03/03/2015] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Tomato is a model plant for studying plant-pathogen interactions. As regulatory factors, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been widely identified and play crucial roles in tomato-pathogen interactions, including host defense and pathogen counter-defense. Here, the review summarizes the discoveries and highlights of miRNAs in tomato diseases. Roles of artificial miRNAs in disease resistance are further discussed. Hence, a better understanding of the contribution of miRNAs in tomato disease will shed light on strategies in enhancing tomato-pathogen resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weichen Wang
- School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
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Involvement of host regulatory pathways during geminivirus infection: a novel platform for generating durable resistance. Funct Integr Genomics 2015; 14:47-58. [PMID: 24233104 DOI: 10.1007/s10142-013-0346-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2013] [Revised: 10/04/2013] [Accepted: 10/21/2013] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Geminiviruses are widely distributed throughout the world and cause devastating yield losses in almost all the economically important crops. In this review, the newly identified roles of various novel plant factors and pathways participating in plant–virus interaction are summarized with a particular focus on the exploitation of various pathways involving ubiquitin/26S proteasome pathway, small RNA pathways, cell division cycle components, and the epigenetic mechanism as defense responses during plant–pathogen interactions. Capturing the information on these pathways for the development of strategies against geminivirus infection is argued to provide the basis for new genetic approaches to resistance.
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Naqvi AR, Choudhury NR, Mukherjee SK, Haq QMR. In silico analysis reveals that several tomato microRNA/microRNA* sequences exhibit propensity to bind to tomato leaf curl virus (ToLCV) associated genomes and most of their encoded open reading frames (ORFs). PLANT PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY : PPB 2011; 49:13-7. [PMID: 21075002 DOI: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2010.09.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2010] [Revised: 09/22/2010] [Accepted: 09/22/2010] [Indexed: 05/01/2023]
Abstract
Tomato leaf curl virus (ToLCV) is a member of family geminiviridae that constitute rapidly emerging group of phytopathogens posing threat to a large number of vegetable crops worldwide. Three different genomes are found to be associated with ToLCV viz., DNA-A, DNA-B and beta satellite DNA. MicroRNAs (miRs) are known to govern several fundamental processes in eukaryotes, including basal defense mechanisms. In animals, it has been demonstrated that certain host miRs prevent viral establishment by directly interfering with pathogen replication or by binding to viral transcripts. However, in spite of the existence of huge families of phytopathogenic viruses, no such mechanism has been observed in plants. In the present study, we performed in silico analysis to investigate whether tomato encoded miR/miR* sequences possess any potential to bind to viral genome and/or encoded ORFs. We observed that different sequences can bind to ToLCNDV DNA-A, ToLCNDV DNA-B and ToLCNDV associated DNA beta genomes and most of the encoded ORFs. Interestingly, our analysis revealed that several miR* species could similarly target genome and ORFs of ToLCNDV suggesting novel role of miR* in host defense response. This observation holds much importance as miR* molecules are presently thought to follow degradation pathway and are not assigned with any function. Moreover, we could predict targets for these miR* sequences that are generally involved in plant metabolism. Overall, these results shed light on new paradigm of intricate host-pathogen interactions via miRNA pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Afsar Raza Naqvi
- Department of Biosciences, Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central University), New Delhi 110 025, India
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Naqvi AR, Haq QMR, Mukherjee SK. MicroRNA profiling of tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (tolcndv) infected tomato leaves indicates that deregulation of mir159/319 and mir172 might be linked with leaf curl disease. Virol J 2010; 7:281. [PMID: 20973960 PMCID: PMC2972279 DOI: 10.1186/1743-422x-7-281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 93] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2010] [Accepted: 10/25/2010] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Tomato leaf curl virus (ToLCV), a constituent of the genus Begomovirus, infects tomato and other plants with a hallmark disease symptom of upward leaf curling. Since microRNAs (miRs) are known to control plants developmental processes, we evaluated the roles of miRNAs in Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) induced leaf curling. RESULTS Microarray analyses of miRNAs, isolated from the leaves of both healthy and ToLCNDV agroinfected tomato cv Pusa Ruby, revealed that ToLCNDV infection significantly deregulated various miRNAs representing ~13 different conserved families (e.g., miR319, miR172, etc.). The precursors of these miRNAs showed similar deregulated patterns, indicating that the transcription regulation of respective miRNA genes was perhaps the cause of deregulation. The expression levels of the miRNA-targeted genes were antagonistic with respect to the amount of corresponding miRNA. Such deregulation was tissue-specific in nature as no analogous misexpression was found in flowers. The accumulation of miR159/319 and miR172 was observed to increase with the days post inoculation (dpi) of ToLCNDV agroinfection in tomato cv Pusa Ruby. Similarly, these miRs were also induced in ToLCNDV agroinfected tomato cv JK Asha and chilli plants, both exhibiting leaf curl symptoms. Our results indicate that miR159/319 and miR172 might be associated with leaf curl symptoms. This report raises the possibility of using miRNA(s) as potential signature molecules for ToLCNDV infection. CONCLUSIONS The expression of several host miRNAs is affected in response to viral infection. The levels of the corresponding pre-miRs and the predicted targets were also deregulated. This change in miRNA expression levels was specific to leaf tissues and observed to be associated with disease progression. Thus, certain host miRs are likely indicator of viral infection and could be potentially employed to develop viral resistance strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Afsar R Naqvi
- Plant Molecular Biology Group, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi-110067, India
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Zhang X, Li H, Zhang J, Zhang C, Gong P, Ziaf K, Xiao F, Ye Z. Expression of artificial microRNAs in tomato confers efficient and stable virus resistance in a cell-autonomous manner. Transgenic Res 2010; 20:569-81. [PMID: 20835923 DOI: 10.1007/s11248-010-9440-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2010] [Accepted: 08/29/2010] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Expression of artificial microRNAs (amiRNAs) in plants can target and degrade the invading viral RNA, consequently conferring virus resistance. Two amiRNAs, targeting the coding sequence shared by the 2a and 2b genes and the highly conserved 3' untranslated region (UTR) of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), respectively, were generated and introduced into the susceptible tomato. The transgenic tomato plants expressing amiRNAs displayed effective resistance to CMV infection and CMV mixed with non-targeted viruses, including tobacco mosaic virus and tomato yellow leaf curl virus. A series of grafting assays indicate scions originated from the transgenic tomato plant maintain stable resistance to CMV infection after grafted onto a CMV-infected rootstock. However, the grafting assay also suggests that the amiRNA-mediated resistance acts in a cell-autonomous manner and the amiRNA signal cannot be transmitted over long distances through the vascular system. Moreover, transgenic plants expressing amiRNA targeting the 2a and 2b viral genes displayed slightly more effective to repress CMV RNA accumulation than transgenic plants expressing amiRNA targeting the 3' UTR of viral genome did. Our work provides new evidence of the use of amiRNAs as an effective approach to engineer viral resistance in the tomato and possibly in other crops.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaohui Zhang
- National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China
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Pérez-Quintero ÁL, Neme R, Zapata A, López C. Plant microRNAs and their role in defense against viruses: a bioinformatics approach. BMC PLANT BIOLOGY 2010; 10:138. [PMID: 20594353 PMCID: PMC3017820 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2229-10-138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2010] [Accepted: 07/01/2010] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND microRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding short RNAs that regulate gene expression in eukaryotes by translational inhibition or cleavage of complementary mRNAs. In plants, miRNAs are known to target mostly transcription factors and are implicated in diverse aspects of plant growth and development. A role has been suggested for the miRNA pathway in antiviral defense in plants. In this work, a bioinformatics approach was taken to test whether plant miRNAs from six species could have antiviral activity by targeting the genomes of plant infecting viruses. RESULTS All plants showed a repertoire of miRNAs with potential for targeting viral genomes. The viruses were targeted by abundant and conserved miRNA families in regions coding for cylindrical inclusion proteins, capsid proteins, and nuclear inclusion body proteins. The parameters for our predicted miRNA:target pairings in the viral genomes were similar to those for validated targets in the plant genomes, indicating that our predicted pairings might behave in-vivo as natural miRNa-target pairings. Our screening was compared with negative controls comprising randomly generated miRNAs, animal miRNAs, and genomes of animal-infecting viruses. We found that plant miRNAs target plant viruses more efficiently than any other sequences, but also, miRNAs can either preferentially target plant-infecting viruses or target any virus without preference. CONCLUSIONS Our results show a strong potential for antiviral activity of plant miRNAs and suggest that the miRNA pathway may be a support mechanism to the siRNA pathway in antiviral defense.
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Affiliation(s)
- Álvaro L Pérez-Quintero
- Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Departamento de Biología, Oficina 222. Calle 45 Cra 30. Bogota D.C. Colombia
| | - Rafik Neme
- Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Departamento de Biología, Oficina 222. Calle 45 Cra 30. Bogota D.C. Colombia
| | - Andrés Zapata
- Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Departamento de Biología, Oficina 222. Calle 45 Cra 30. Bogota D.C. Colombia
| | - Camilo López
- Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Departamento de Biología, Oficina 222. Calle 45 Cra 30. Bogota D.C. Colombia
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