94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1553348
Beyond salt tolerance: SOS1-13's pivotal role in regulating the immune response to Fusarium oxysporum in Solanum phureja
Provisionally accepted
Liqin Liang Xiaona Liu 
Liuyan Guo Liyan Wang Yuehua Zhao Yue Wu Yiqian Chen 
Weizhong Liu *
Gang Gao *- Shanxi Normal University, Linfen, Shanxi Province, China
Fusarium oxysporum (FOX) causes severe Fusarium wilt in the potato (Solanum tuberosum group Phureja) annually around the world. As an Na+/H+ antiporter, SOS1, a member of the salt oversensitive (SOS) signaling pathway plays important role in salt tolerance, but its function in plant disease resistance has been less studied. Here, the function of the potato SOS1 gene (StSOS1-13) responding to the FOX infection was researched by gain- and loss-of-function assays. The results indicated that StSOS1-13-overexpressed Arabidopsis differed from WT plants in multiple aspects post-FOX infection. It exhibited less ROS accumulation and cell necrosis in leaves, higher SOD and CAT activities accompanied by reduced MDA content, enhanced root development, increased tolerance to FOX infection, and an accelerated leaf stomatal closure rate along with a reduced stomatal aperture area. Additionally, the ectopic overexpression of StSOS1-13 in Arabidopsis induced down-regulation of AtPR12. Conversely, silencing the ortholog gene NbSOS1-13 in Nicotiana benthamiana showed more accumulation of ROS, serious cell necrosis, reduced activities of SOD and CAT, significantly increased MDA level, obvious leaf wilting, decreased tolerance to infection, and reduced leaf stomatal closure rate and accelerated stomatal area. Furthermore, the expression of SA and JA response-related genes (NbPR5 and NbPR12) was up-regulated in NbSOS1-13-silenced plants. These findings suggest that StSOS1-13 may serve as a key hub in the immune response to FOX infection by enhancing the antioxidant defense system, promoting root development to improve water uptake, facilitating leaf stomatal closure to minimize water loss through evaporation, and associating with the SA and JA signaling pathways.
Keywords: Potato, SOS1, Resistance, Fusarium oxysporum, Stomata movement
Received: 30 Dec 2024; Accepted: 10 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liang, Liu, Guo, Wang, Zhao, Wu, Chen, Liu and Gao. 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:
Weizhong Liu, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen, Shanxi Province, China
Gang Gao, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen, Shanxi Province, 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.