GIGANTEA supresses wilt disease resistance by down-regulating the jasmonate signaling in .

GIGANTEA (GI) is a plant-specific nuclear protein that plays a pleiotropic role in the growth and development of plants. GI's involvement in circadian clock function, flowering time regulation, and various types of abiotic stress tolerance has been well documented in recent years. Here, the role of GI in response to () infection is investigated at the molecular level comparing Col-0 WT with the mutant in . Disease progression, photosynthetic parameters, and comparative anatomy confirmed that the spread and damage caused by pathogen infection were less severe in than in Col-0 WT plants. infection induces a remarkable accumulation of GI protein. Our report showed that it is not involved in flowering time regulation during infection. Estimation of defense hormone after infection showed that jasmonic acid (JA) level is higher and salicylic acid (SA) level is lower in compared to Col-0 WT. Here, we show that the relative transcript expression of () and () as a marker of the JA pathway is significantly higher while () and (), the markers of the SA pathway, are downregulated in the mutants compared to Col-0 plants. The present study convincingly suggests that the GI module promotes susceptibility to infection by inducing the SA pathway and inhibiting JA signaling in .