Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1533151
This article is part of the Research Topic Omics Applications for Pathogen Control and Disease Resistance View all articles

The transcriptional analysis of pepper shed light on a proviral role of light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding protein 13 during infection of pepper mild mottle virus

Provisionally accepted
Weihong Lin Weihong Lin 1Shugen Zhang Shugen Zhang 2Hao Zhang Hao Zhang 1Xiaomei Deng Xiaomei Deng 2Tong Jiang Tong Jiang 3Xifeng Chen Xifeng Chen 1Laihua Dong Laihua Dong 1Qin Yan Qin Yan 1Lianyi Zang Lianyi Zang 1Yongping Xing Yongping Xing 2Zhenquan Wang Zhenquan Wang 2Qin Zhang Qin Zhang 2Kaitong Du Kaitong Du 1Huolin Shen Huolin Shen 4Junmin Zhang Junmin Zhang 2Tao Zhou Tao Zhou 1*
  • 1 Department of Phytopathology, College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
  • 2 Laboratory of Plant Tissue Culture Technology of Haidian District, Beijing, China
  • 3 College of Agriculture and Biology, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, China
  • 4 College of Horticulture, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

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

    Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), a member of the genus Tobamovirus, causes severe damage on pepper worldwide. Despite its impact, the pathogenicity mechanisms of PMMoV and the pepper plant's response to infection remain poorly understood. Here, we compared the transcriptomic changes in a susceptible pepper inbred line 21C241 with a resistant inbred line 21C385 seedlings, following systemic PMMoV infection using RNA sequencing. Our results revealed that PMMoV induced more pronounced mosaic symptoms and higher viral accumulation levels in the susceptible line 21C241 compared to the resistant line 21C385. We identified 462 and 401 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the systemically-infected leaves of the susceptible and resistant lines, respectively, when compared to their healthy counterparts. The majority of these DEGs were involved in photosynthesis and the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, with 28 DEGs exhibiting distinct expression patterns between the two lines. Notably, the expression level of the chlorophyll a-b binding protein 13 (CAB13) was significantly up-regulated in resistant line 21C385 following PMMoV infection. Functional analysis through silencing of CAB13 in pepper and Nicotiana benthamiana demonstrated a reduction in PMMoV accumulation, suggesting that CAB13 plays a positive role in facilitating PMMoV infection in pepper plants. Taken together, our findings highlight the distinct gene expression profiles between susceptible and resistant pepper lines in response to PMMoV infection and confirm the proviral role of CAB13. This study provides valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying resistance and susceptibility in pepper plants and may inform future strategies for disease management.

    Keywords: Differentially expressed gene, Transcriptomic Analysis, Chlorophyll ab binding protein 13, virus-induced gene silencing, Photosynthesis, Flavonoid biosynthesis

    Received: 23 Nov 2024; Accepted: 07 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Lin, Zhang, Zhang, Deng, Jiang, Chen, Dong, Yan, Zang, Xing, Wang, Zhang, Du, Shen, Zhang and Zhou. 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: Tao Zhou, Department of Phytopathology, College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 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.