Overexpression of Up-Regulates Multiple Defense-Related Genes in and Enhances Plant Resistance to .

Various classes of plant pathogenesis-related proteins have been identified in the past several decades. PR-Q, a member of the PR3 family encoding chitinases, has played an important role in regulating plant resistance and preventing pathogen infection. In this paper, we functionally characterized in tobacco plants and found that the overexpression of in tobacco Yunyan87 resulted in higher resistance to inoculation. Surprisingly, overexpression of led to the activation of many defense-related genes, such as salicylic acid (SA)-responsive genes , and , JA-responsive gene and ET production-associated genes and . Consistent with the role of in multiple stress responses, transcripts were induced by the exogenous hormones SA, ethylene and methyl jasmonate, which could enhance the resistance of tobacco to . Collectively, our results suggested that overexpression led to the up-regulation of defense-related genes and enhanced plant resistance to infection.