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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1528348
This article is part of the Research Topic Innovative Molecular Strategies for Enhancing Plant Defense Against Biotic Stresses View all 6 articles

Citrus transcription factor CsERF1 is involved in the response to citrus tristeza disease

Provisionally accepted
Qi Chen Qi Chen Fulin Yan Fulin Yan Jing Liu Jing Liu *Zhipeng Xie Zhipeng Xie *Junyao Jiang Junyao Jiang *Jiamei Liang Jiamei Liang *Jing Chen Jing Chen *Huanhuan Wang Huanhuan Wang *Jinxiang Liu Jinxiang Liu *
  • Southwest University, Chongqing, China

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

    Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) is a threat to the citrus production and causes severe economic losses to the citrus industry. Ethylene response factors (ERFs) play important roles in plant growth and stress responses. Although ERF genes have been widely studied in model plants, little is known about their role in biological stress responses in fruit trees, such as citrus. CsERF1 belongs to the citrus AP2/ERF transcription factor family. To determine the role of CsERF1 on CTV resistance in citrus and the effects of the exongenous hormone application on CsERF1 in citrus, the expression of related genes was quantitatively analyzed by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in this study. The expression profile showed that the expression level of CsERF1 in roots was significantly lower under CTV infection than in healthy plants, while the expression level in stems was significantly increased. CsERF1 responded to exogenous salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatments. The CTV titer in RNAi-CsERF1 transgenic sweet orange plants significantly increased. Furthermore, CsERF1-overexpressing and RNAi-CsERF1 transgenic sweet orange plants exhibited differential expression of genes involved in jasmonic acid (JA) and SA signaling. These results suggest that CsERF1 mediates CTV resistance by regulating the JA and SA signaling pathways. The results of this study provide new clues as to the citrus defence response against CTV. It is of great significance to create citrus germplasm resources resistant to recession disease.

    Keywords: Citrus, Citrus tristeza virus, CsERF1, Salicylic Acid, Jasmonic acid

    Received: 14 Nov 2024; Accepted: 16 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chen, Yan, Liu, Xie, Jiang, Liang, Chen, Wang and Liu. 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:
    Jing Liu, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
    Zhipeng Xie, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
    Junyao Jiang, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
    Jiamei Liang, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
    Jing Chen, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
    Huanhuan Wang, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
    Jinxiang Liu, Southwest University, Chongqing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.