AUTHOR=Chen Jieyin , Li Nanyang , Ma Xuefeng , Gupta Vijai K. , Zhang Dandan , Li Tinggang , Dai Xiaofeng 

TITLE=The Ectopic Overexpression of the Cotton Ve1 and Ve2-Homolog Sequences Leads to Resistance Response to Verticillium Wilt in Arabidopsis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2017.00844

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2017.00844

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Verticillium</italic> wilt, caused by the <italic>Verticillium dahliae</italic> phytopathogen, is a devastating disease affecting many economically important crops. A receptor-like protein (RLP) gene, <italic>Ve1</italic>, has been reported to confer resistance to <italic>V. dahliae</italic> in tomato plants, but few genes have been found to be involved in cotton <italic>Verticillium</italic> wilt resistance. Here, we cloned two <italic>RLP</italic> gene homologs, <italic>Gossypium barbadense</italic> resistance gene to <italic>Verticillium dahliae</italic> 1 (<italic>GbaVd1</italic>) and <italic>GbaVd2</italic>, from the <italic>Verticillium</italic> wilt-resistant cultivar <italic>G. barbadense</italic> cv. Hai7124. <italic>GbaVd1</italic> and <italic>GbaVd2</italic> display sequence divergence, but both encode typical RLPs. Virus-induced gene silencing of <italic>GbaVd1</italic> or <italic>GbaVd2</italic> compromised the resistance of cotton to <italic>V. dahliae</italic>, and both genes conferred <italic>Verticillium</italic> wilt resistance after interfamily transfer into <italic>Arabidopsis</italic>. Microarray analysis revealed that <italic>GbaVd1</italic> and <italic>GbaVd2</italic> participate in <italic>Verticillium</italic> wilt resistance in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> through activation of defense responses, including the endocytosis process, signaling factors, transcription factors and reinforcement of the cell wall, as demonstrated by lignification in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> transgenic plants. In addition, microarray analysis showed that <italic>GbaVd1</italic> and <italic>GbaVd2</italic> differentially mediate resistance signaling and activation of defense responses after overexpression in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic>. Thus, <italic>GbaVd1</italic> and <italic>GbaVd2</italic> encode RLPs and act as disease resistance genes that mediate the defense response against <italic>V. dahliae</italic> in cotton.</p>