Wang Le, Wu Shu-Ming, Zhu Yue, Fan Qiang, Zhang Zhen-Nan, Hu Guang, Peng Qing-Zhong, Wu Jia-He
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Utilization, College of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Jishou University, Jishou, Hunan 416000, China; State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100010, China.
State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100010, China.
Plant Physiol Biochem. 2017 Mar;112:152-160. doi: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2017.01.005. Epub 2017 Jan 4.
The jasmonic acid (JA) signalling pathway plays roles in plant development and defence against biotic and abiotic stresses. We isolated a cotton NINJA (novel interactor of JA ZIM-domain) gene, designated GhNINJA, which contains a 1305 bp open read frame. The GhNINJA gene encodes a 434 amino acid peptide. According to quantitative real-time PCR analysis, GhNINJA is preferentially expressed in roots, and its expression level is greatly induced by Verticillium dahliae infection. Through a virus-induced gene silencing technique, we developed GhNINJA-silenced cotton plants, which had significantly decreased expression of the target gene with an average expression of 6% of the control. The regenerating lateral root growth of silenced plants was largely inhibited compared to the control. Analysis by microscopy demonstrated that the cell length of the root differentiation zone in GhNINJA-silenced plants is significantly shorter than those of the control. Moreover, the silenced plants exhibited higher tolerance to V. dahliae infection compared to the control, which was linked to the increased expression of the defence marker genes PDF1.2 and PR4. Together, these data indicated that knockdown of GhNINJA represses the root growth and enhances the tolerance to V. dahliae. Therefore, GhNINJA gene can be used as a candidate gene to breed the new cultivars for improving cotton yield and disease resistance.
茉莉酸（JA）信号通路在植物发育以及抵御生物和非生物胁迫中发挥作用。我们分离出一个棉花NINJA（JA ZIM结构域新型互作蛋白）基因，命名为GhNINJA，其包含一个1305 bp的开放阅读框。GhNINJA基因编码一个434个氨基酸的肽段。根据实时定量PCR分析，GhNINJA在根中优先表达，其表达水平受大丽轮枝菌感染的强烈诱导。通过病毒诱导基因沉默技术，我们培育出GhNINJA基因沉默的棉花植株，其靶基因表达显著降低，平均表达量为对照的6%。与对照相比，沉默植株再生侧根的生长受到很大抑制。显微镜分析表明，GhNINJA基因沉默植株根分化区的细胞长度明显短于对照。此外，与对照相比，沉默植株对大丽轮枝菌感染表现出更高的耐受性，这与防御标记基因PDF1.2和PR4表达增加有关。这些数据共同表明，GhNINJA基因敲低会抑制根生长并增强对大丽轮枝菌的耐受性。因此，GhNINJA基因可作为候选基因用于培育提高棉花产量和抗病性的新品种。
