AUTHOR=Téllez Julio , Muñoz-Barrios Antonio , Sopeña-Torres Sara , Martín-Forero Amanda F. , Ortega Alfonso , Pérez Rosa , Sanz Yolanda , Borja Marisé , de Marcos Alberto , Nicolas Michael , Jahrmann Torben , Mena Montaña , Jordá Lucía , Molina Antonio 

TITLE=YODA Kinase Controls a Novel Immune Pathway of Tomato Conferring Enhanced Disease Resistance to the Bacterium Pseudomonas syringae

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2020.584471

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2020.584471

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) play pivotal roles in transducing developmental cues and environmental signals into cellular responses through pathways initiated by MAPK kinase kinases (MAP3K). AtYODA is a MAP3K of <italic>Arabidopsis thaliana</italic> that controls stomatal development and non-canonical immune responses. <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> plants overexpressing a constitutively active YODA protein (<italic>AtCA-YDA</italic>) show broad-spectrum disease resistance and constitutive expression of defensive genes. We tested YDA function in crops immunity by heterologously overexpressing <italic>AtCA-YDA</italic> in <italic>Solanum lycopersicum</italic>. We found that these tomato <italic>AtCA-YDA</italic> plants do not show developmental phenotypes and fitness alterations, except a reduction in stomatal index, as reported in <italic>Arabidopsis AtCA-YDA</italic> plants. Notably, <italic>AtCA-YDA</italic> tomato plants show enhanced resistance to the bacterial pathogen <italic>Pseudomonas syringae</italic> pv. <italic>tomato</italic> DC3000 and constitutive upregulation of defense-associated genes, corroborating the functionality of YDA in tomato immunity. This function was further supported by generating CRISPR/Cas9-edited tomato mutants impaired in the closest orthologs of <italic>AtYDA</italic> [<italic>Solyc08g081210</italic> (<italic>SlYDA1</italic>) and <italic>Solyc03g025360</italic> (<italic>SlYDA2</italic>)]. <italic>Slyda1</italic> and <italic>Slyda2</italic> mutants are highly susceptible to <italic>P. syringae</italic> pv. <italic>tomato</italic> DC3000 in comparison to wild-type plants but only <italic>Slyda2</italic> shows altered stomatal index. These results indicate that tomato orthologs have specialized functions and support that YDA also regulates immune responses in tomato and may be a trait for breeding disease resistance.</p>