Genome-wide identification and functional analyses of the CRK gene family reveals that GbCRK18 confers Verticillium wilt resistance in Gossypium barbadense

Authors: LI, TING-GANG - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; ZHANG, DAN-DAN - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; ZHOU, LEI - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; KONG, ZHI-QIANG - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; HUSSAINI, ADAMU - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; WANG, DAN - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; LI, JUN-JIAO - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; SHORT, DYLAN - University Of California; DHAR, NIKHILESH - University Of California; Klosterman, Steven; WANG, BAO-LI - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; YIN, CHUN-MEI - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; SUBBARAO, KRISHNA - University Of California; CHEN, JIE-YIN - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; DAI, XIAO-FENG - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences

Submitted to: Frontiers in Plant Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/10/2018
Publication Date: 9/11/2018
Citation: Li, T.-G., Zhang, D.-D., Zhou, L., Kong, Z.-Q., Hussaini, A.S., Wang, D., Li, J.-J., Short, D.P.G., Dhar, N., Klosterman, S.J., Wang, B.L., Yin, C.-M., Subbarao, K.V., Chen, J.-Y., Dai, X.-F. 2018. Genome-wide identification and functional analyses of the CRK gene family reveals that GbCRK18 confers Verticillium wilt resistance in Gossypium barbadense. Frontiers in Plant Science. 9:1266. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.01266.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.01266

Interpretive Summary: The fungus Verticillium dahliae is the cause of devastating vascular wilt diseases on hundreds of plant species worldwide, from trees to shrubs to high value crops. Determining how this pathogen causes disease, and specifically the mechanisms at the cellular and molecular level by which the pathogen is perceived by the plant immune system is very important for developing plant disease resistance. The mechanisms that confer this resistance are anticipated to be similar in various dicot plant species. The ability to quickly identify which genes or variants of the genes in plant responsible for disease resistance may hasten the development new types of plant cultivars with disease resistance. In this study, the cotton gene GbCRK18 in particular was found to confer Verticillium wilt resistance in the cotton cultivar Gossypium barbadense. Based on known functions of similar GbCRK18 proteins in plants, this protein may enable perception of the pathogen and intracellular signaling for defense responses.

Technical Abstract: Cysteine-rich receptor-like kinases (CRKs) are a large subfamily of plant RLKs that play a critical role in disease resistance in plants. However, knowledge about the CRK gene family in cotton and its function against Verticillium wilt, a destructive disease caused by Verticillium dahliae that significantly reduces cotton yields, is lacking. In this study, we identified a total of 30 typical CRKs in the Gossypium barbadense genome (GbCRKs). Eleven of these (> 30%) are located on the A06 and D06 chromosomes, and 18 consisted of nine paralogous pairs encoded in the A and D subgenomes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the GbCRKs could be classified into four broad groups, the expansion of which has probably been driven by tandem duplication. Gene expression profiling of the GbCRKs in resistant and susceptible cotton cultivars revealed that a phylogenetic cluster of nine of the GbCRK genes were up-regulated in response to V. dahliae infection. Virus-induced gene silencing of each of these nine GbCRKs independently revealed that the silencing of GbCRK18 was sufficient to compromise Verticillium wilt resistance in G. barbadense. GbCRK18 activity could be induced by V. dahliae infection or jasmonic acid, and displayed a plasma membrane localization. Therefore, our expression analyses indicated that the CRK gene family plays a role in defense responses, while silencing experiments revealed that GbCRK18 in particular confers Verticillium wilt resistance in G. barbadense.