AUTHOR=Li Ting-Gang , Zhang Dan-Dan , Zhou Lei , Kong Zhi-Qiang , Hussaini Adamu S. , Wang Dan , Li Jun-Jiao , Short Dylan P. G. , Dhar Nikhilesh , Klosterman Steven J. , Wang Bao-Li , Yin Chun-Mei , Subbarao Krishna V. , Chen Jie-Yin , Dai Xiao-Feng 

TITLE=Genome-Wide Identification and Functional Analyses of the CRK Gene Family in Cotton Reveals GbCRK18 Confers Verticillium Wilt Resistance in Gossypium barbadense

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.01266

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2018.01266

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Cysteine-rich receptor-like kinases (<italic>CRKs</italic>) are a large subfamily of plant receptor-like kinases that play a critical role in disease resistance in plants. However, knowledge about the <italic>CRK</italic> gene family in cotton and its function against Verticillium wilt (VW), a destructive disease caused by <italic>Verticillium dahliae</italic> that significantly reduces cotton yields is lacking. In this study, we identified a total of 30 typical <italic>CRKs</italic> in a <italic>Gossypium barbadense</italic> genome (<italic>GbCRKs</italic>). Eleven of these (&gt;30%) are located on the A06 and D06 chromosomes, and 18 consisted of 9 paralogous pairs encoded in the A and D subgenomes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the <italic>GbCRKs</italic> could be classified into four broad groups, the expansion of which has probably been driven by tandem duplication. Gene expression profiling of the <italic>GbCRKs</italic> in resistant and susceptible cotton cultivars revealed that a phylogenetic cluster of nine of the <italic>GbCRK</italic> genes were up-regulated in response to <italic>V. dahliae</italic> infection. Virus-induced gene silencing of each of these nine <italic>GbCRKs</italic> independently revealed that the silencing of <italic>GbCRK18</italic> was sufficient to compromise VW resistance in <italic>G. barbadense</italic>. GbCRK18 expression could be induced by <italic>V. dahliae</italic> infection or jasmonic acid, and displayed plasma membrane localization. Therefore, our expression analyses indicated that the <italic>CRK</italic> gene family is differentially regulated in response to Verticillium infection, while gene silencing experiments revealed that <italic>GbCRK18</italic> in particular confers VW resistance in <italic>G. barbadense</italic>.</p>