Juhász Csilla, Szatmári Ágnes, Bozsó Zoltán, Barna Balazs, Gullner Gábor
Plant Protection Institute, HUN-REN Centre for Agricultural Research, Fehérvári Str. 132-144, 1116 Budapest, Hungary.
Life (Basel). 2025 Apr 17;15(4):669. doi: 10.3390/life15040669.
The role of WRKY transcription factor proteins in plant defense reactions against fungal and bacterial pathogens is well studied, but less information is available about plant-virus interactions. We observed the rapid and strong activation of the transcription factor gene, , in pepper leaves following inoculation with Obuda pepper virus (ObPV). In contrast, was only weakly induced by pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) inoculation. To carry out a functional analysis of , the gene was transiently overexpressed in leaves by agroinfiltration. Four days later, -overexpressing and empty vector control leaves were inoculated with tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). Transiently overexpressing did not affect the replication rate of TMV in the inoculated leaves. However, TMV inoculation up-regulated the expression of a pathogenesis-related gene () and a lipoxygenase () gene significantly more strongly in leaves overexpressing than in empty vector control leaves. Intriguingly, overexpression delayed (by 3 days) the development of systemic necrosis and plant death caused by TMV in . These results suggest that CaWRKY2 is able to hinder the spread of TMV from inoculated leaves towards vascular tissues and systemic leaves in .
WRKY转录因子蛋白在植物对真菌和细菌病原体的防御反应中的作用已得到充分研究，但关于植物与病毒相互作用的信息较少。我们观察到，在用奥布达辣椒病毒（ObPV）接种后，辣椒叶片中转录因子基因迅速且强烈地被激活。相比之下，接种辣椒轻斑驳病毒（PMMoV）仅微弱诱导该基因。为了对该基因进行功能分析，通过农杆菌浸润法在烟草叶片中瞬时过表达该基因。四天后，用烟草花叶病毒（TMV）接种过表达该基因的叶片和空载体对照叶片。瞬时过表达该基因不影响TMV在接种叶片中的复制率。然而，TMV接种上调病程相关基因（）和脂氧合酶（）基因表达的程度，在过表达该基因的烟草叶片中比在空载体对照叶片中显著更强。有趣的是，该基因过表达延迟了（3天）TMV在烟草中引起的系统性坏死和植株死亡的发展。这些结果表明，CaWRKY2能够阻碍TMV从接种叶片向烟草维管组织和系统性叶片的扩散。
