Overexpression of the GmEXPA1 gene reduces plant susceptibility to Meloidogyne incognita.
Marcos Fernando BassoIsabela Tristan Lourenço-TessuttiClidia Eduarda Moreira-PintoReneida Aparecida Godinho MendesDebora Gonçalves PereiraAdriana GrandisLeonardo Lima Pepino MacedoAmanda Ferreira MacedoAna Cristina Meneses Mendes GomesFabrício Barbosa Monteiro ArraesRoberto Coiti TogawaMarcos Mota do Carmo CostaFrancismar Corrêa Marcelino-GuimaraesMaria Cristina Mattar SilvaEny Iochevet Segal FlohMarcos Silveira BuckeridgeJanice de Almeida EnglerMaria Fatima Grossi-de-SaPublished in: Plant cell reports (2022)
The overexpression of the soybean GmEXPA1 gene reduces plant susceptibility to M. incognita by the increase of root lignification. Plant expansins are enzymes that act in a pH-dependent manner in the plant cell wall loosening and are associated with improved tolerance or resistance to abiotic or biotic stresses. Plant-parasitic nematodes (PPN) can alter the expression profile of several expansin genes in infected root cells. Studies have shown that overexpression or downregulation of particular expansin genes can reduce plant susceptibility to PPNs. Root-knot nematodes (RKN) are obligate sedentary endoparasites of the genus Meloidogyne spp. of which M. incognita is one of the most reported species. Herein, using a transcriptome dataset and real-time PCR assays were identified an expansin A gene (GmEXPA1; Glyma.02G109100) that is upregulated in the soybean nematode-resistant genotype PI595099 compared to the susceptible cultivar BRS133 during plant parasitism by M. incognita. To understand the role of the GmEXPA1 gene during the interaction between soybean plant and M. incognita were generated stable A. thaliana and N. tabacum transgenic lines. Remarkably, both A. thaliana and N. tabacum transgenic lines overexpressing the GmEXPA1 gene showed reduced susceptibility to M. incognita. Furthermore, plant growth, biomass accumulation, and seed yield were not affected in these transgenic lines. Interestingly, significant upregulation of the NtACC oxidase and NtEFE26 genes, involved in ethylene biosynthesis, and NtCCR and Nt4CL genes, involved in lignin biosynthesis, was observed in roots of the N. tabacum transgenic lines, which also showed higher lignin content. These data suggested a possible link between GmEXPA1 gene expression and increased lignification of the root cell wall. Therefore, these data support that engineering of the GmEXPA1 gene in soybean offers a powerful biotechnology tool to assist in RKN management.
Keyphrases
- cell wall
- genome wide
- genome wide identification
- gene expression
- copy number
- cell proliferation
- plant growth
- dna methylation
- transcription factor
- genome wide analysis
- physical activity
- signaling pathway
- long non coding rna
- ionic liquid
- machine learning
- poor prognosis
- cell death
- big data
- real time pcr
- rna seq
- bioinformatics analysis