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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1451985

MAPK and phenylpropanoid metabolism pathways involved in regulating the resistance of upland cotton plants to Verticillium dahliae

Provisionally accepted
Mingli Zhang Mingli Zhang 1,2*Yanjun Ma Yanjun Ma 2*Yuan Wang Yuan Wang 2*Haifeng Gao Haifeng Gao 1*Sifeng Zhao Sifeng Zhao 2*Yu Yu Yu Yu 3*Xuekun Zhang Xuekun Zhang 2*Hui Xi Hui Xi 2*
  • 1 Key Laboratory of Integrated Pest Management on Crop in Northwestern Oasis, Institute of Plant Protection, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi, China
  • 2 College of Agriculture, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
  • 3 Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural and Reclamation Sciences (XAARS), Shihezi, Xinjiang Uyghur Region, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    V. dahliae causes a serious decline in cotton yield and quality, posing a serious threat to the cotton industry. To analyze the defense mechanisms of cotton in response to V. dahliae infection, we compared the defense responses of two upland cotton cultivars from Xinjiang (JK1775, resistant; Z8,susceptible) using transcriptome sequencing at different infection stages. The results revealed a significant differential expression of genes in the two cotton cultivars post V. dahliae infection, with the number of DEGs in JK1775 being higher than that in Z8 at different infection stages of V. dahliae.Interestingly, the DEGs of both JK1775 and Z8 were enriched in the MAPK signaling pathway in the early and late stages of infection. Importantly, the upregulated DEGs in both cultivars were significantly enriched in all stages of the phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway. Some of these DEGs were involved in the regulation of lignin and coumarin biosynthesis, which may be one of the key factors contributing to the resistance of upland cotton cultivars to V. dahliae in Xinjiang. Lignin staining experiments further showed that the lignin content increased in both resistant and susceptible varieties after inoculation with V. dahliae. This study not only provides insights into the molecular mechanisms of resistance to Verticillium wilt in Xinjiang upland cotton but also offers important candidate gene resources for molecular breeding of resistance to Verticillium wilt in cotton.

    Keywords: Verticillium dahliae, Transcriptome, MAPK pathway, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, Cotton

    Received: 20 Jun 2024; Accepted: 29 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Ma, Wang, Gao, Zhao, Yu, Zhang and Xi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Mingli Zhang, Key Laboratory of Integrated Pest Management on Crop in Northwestern Oasis, Institute of Plant Protection, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi, 830091, China
    Yanjun Ma, College of Agriculture, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Yuan Wang, College of Agriculture, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Haifeng Gao, Key Laboratory of Integrated Pest Management on Crop in Northwestern Oasis, Institute of Plant Protection, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi, 830091, China
    Sifeng Zhao, College of Agriculture, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Yu Yu, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural and Reclamation Sciences (XAARS), Shihezi, Xinjiang Uyghur Region, China
    Xuekun Zhang, College of Agriculture, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Hui Xi, College of Agriculture, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China

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