MiR858-mediated regulation of flavonoid-specific MYB transcription factor genes controls resistance to pathogen infection in Arabidopsis

Autor: Beatriz Val-Torregrosa, Rosany Camargo-Ramírez, Blanca San Segundo
Přispěvatelé: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), Generalitat de Catalunya, Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (España), Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (España)
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Recercat: Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname
Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Popis: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of short endogenous non-coding small RNAs that direct post-transcriptional gene silencing in eukaryotes. In plants, the expression of a large number of miRNAs has been shown to be regulated during pathogen infection. However, the functional role of the majority of these pathogen-regulated miRNAs has not been elucidated. In this work, we investigated the role of Arabidopsis miR858 in the defense response of Arabidopsis plants to infection by fungal pathogens with necrotrophic (Plectosphaerella cucumerina) or hemibiotrophic (Fusarium oxysporum and Colletotrichum higginsianum) lifestyles. Whereas overexpression of MIR858 enhances susceptibility to pathogen infection, interference with miR858 activity by target mimics (MIM858 plants) results in disease resistance. Upon pathogen challenge, stronger activation of the defense genes PDF1.2 and PR4 occurs in MIM858 plants than in wild-type plants, whereas pathogen infection induced weaker activation of these genes in MIR858 overexpressor plants. Reduced miR858 activity, and concomitant up-regulation of miR858 target genes, in MIM858 plants, also leads to accumulation of flavonoids in Arabidopsis leaves. The antifungal activity of phenylpropanoid compounds, including flavonoids, is presented. Furthermore, pathogen infection or treatment with fungal elicitors is accompanied by a gradual decrease in MIR858 expression in wild-type plants, suggesting that miR858 plays a role in PAMP (pathogen-associated molecular pattern)-triggered immunity. These data support that miR858 is a negative regulator of Arabidopsis immunity and provide new insights into the relevant role of miR858-mediated regulation of the phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway in controlling Arabidopsis immunity.
This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [grant Nos. BIO2012-32838 and BIO2015-67212-R]; the CERCA Programme from the Generalitat de Catalunya; MINECO through the ‘Severo Ochoa Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D’ 2016–2019 [SEV-2015-0533]’; the ‘Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deportes’ [PhD grant No. FPU12/02812 to R.C.-R.] and the ‘Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad’ [PhD grant No. BES-2016-076289 to B.V.-T].
Databáze: OpenAIRE