Effects of Exogenous Jasmonic Acid on Concentrations of Direct-Defense Chemicals and Expression of Related Genes in Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) Corn (Zea mays)

Bt corn is one of the top three large-scale commercialized transgenic crops around the world. It is increasingly clear that the complementary durable approaches for pest control, which combine the endogenous defense of the crop with the introduced foreign genes, are promising alternative strategies for pest resistance management and the next generation of insect-resistant transgenic crops. In the present study, we tested the inducible effects of exogenous jasmonic acid （JA） on direct-defense chemical content, Bt protein concentration, and related gene expression in the leaves of Bt corn cultivar 34B24 and non-Bt cultivar 34B23 by chemical analysis, ELISA, and RT-PCR. The results show that the expression of LOX, PR-2a, MPI, and PR-I genes in the treated leaf （the first leaf） was promoted by exogenous JA both in 34B24 and 34B23. As compared with the control, the concentration of DIMBOA in the treated leaf was significantly increased by 63 and 18% for 34B24 and 34B23, respectively. The total phenolic acid was also increased by 24 and 12% for both 34B24 and 34B23. The Bt protein content of 34B24 in the treated leaf was increased by 13% but decreased significantly by 27% in the second leaf. The induced response of 34B24 was in a systemic way and was much stronger than that of 34B23. Those findings indicated that there is a synergistic interaction between Bt gene and internally induced chemical defense system triggered by externally applied JA in Bt corn.

DNA methylation patterns of banana leaves in response to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense tropical race 4

Fusarium wilt of banana, which is caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense tropical race 4 （Foc TR4）, is a serious soil-borne fungal disease. Now, the epigenetic molecular pathogenic basis is elusive. In this study, with methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism （MSAP） technique, DNA methylation was compared between the leaves inoculated with Foc TR4 and the mock-inoculated leaves at different pathogenic stages. With 25 pairs of primers, 1 144 and 1 255 fragments were amplified from the infected and mock-inoculated leaves, respectively. DNA methylation was both changed and the average methylated CCGG sequences were 34.81 and 29.26% for the infected and the mock-inoculated leaves. And DNA hypermethylation and hypomethylation were induced by pathogen infection during all pathogenic stages. Further, 69 polymorphic fragments were sequenced and 29 of them showed sequence similarity to genes with known functions. And RT-PCR results of four genes indicated that their expression patterns were consistent with their methylation patterns. Our results suggest that DNA methylation plays important roles in pathogenic response to Foc TR4 for banana.

Trichoderma harzianum enhances tomato indirect defense against aphids

Many fungal root symbionts of the genus Trichoderma are well-known for their beneficial effects on agronomic performance and protection against plant pathogens; moreover, they may enhance protection from insect pests, by triggering plant resistance mechanisms. Defense barriers against insects are induced by the activation of metabolic pathways involved in the production of defense-related plant compounds, either directly active against herbivore insects, or exerting an indirect effect, by increasing the attrac- tion of herbivore natural enemies. In a model system composed of the tomato plant, the aphid Macrosiphum euphorbiae and the parasitoid Aphidius ervi, plant metabolic changes induced by Trichoderma harzianum and their effects on higher trophic levels have been assessed. T. harzianum T22 treatments induce a primed state that upon aphid attacks leads to an increased attraction of aphid parasitoids, mediated by the enhanced produc- tion of volatile organic compounds （VOCs） that are known to induce Aphidius ervi flight. Transcriptome sequencing of T22-treated plants infested by aphids showed a remarkable upregulation of genes involved in terpenoids biosynthesis and salicylic acid pathway, which are consistent with the observed flight response ofA. ervi and the VOC bouquet profile underlying this behavioral response.

Mapping of Defense Response Gene Homologs and Their Association with Resistance Loci in Maize

Defense response genes in higher plant species are involved in a variety of signal transduction pathways and biochemical reactions to counterattack invading pathogens. In this study, a total of 366 non-redundant defense response gene homologs （DRHs）, including 124 unigenes/expressed sequence tags, 226 tentative consensuses, and 16 DRH contigs have been identified by mining the Maize Genetics and Genomics and The Institute for Genomic Research maize databases using 35 essential defense response genes. Of 366 DRHs, 202 are mapped to 152 loci across ten maize chromosomes via both the genetic and in silico mapping approaches. The mapped DRHs seem to cluster together rather than be evenly distributed along the maize genome. Approximately half of these DHRs are located in regions harboring either major resistance genes or quantitative trait loci （QTL）. Therefore, this comprehensive DRH linkage map will provide reference sequences to identify either positional candidate genes for resistance genes and/or QTLs or to develop makers for fine-mapping and marker-assisted selection of resistance genes and/or QTLs.

Active DNA demethylation regulates MAMP-triggered immune priming in Arabidopsis

Plants recognize microbe-associated molecular patterns(MAMPs)to activate immune responses and defense priming to defend against pathogen infections.Transcriptional regulation of gene expression is crucial for plant immunity and is mediated by multiple factors,including DNA methylation.However,it remains unknown whether and how DNA demethylation contributes to immune responses in MAMPtriggered immunity.Here,we report that active DNA demethylation is required for MAMP-triggered immunity to bacterial pathogens.The rdd-2 triple mutant carrying mutations in ROS1,DML2,and DML3 that encode DNA glycosylases,which are key DNA demethylation enzymes,exhibits compromised immune responses triggered by the MAMPs fig22 and elf18.Genome-wide methylome analysis reveals that fig22 induces rapid and specific DNA demethylation in an RDD-dependent manner.The expression levels of salicylic acid signaling-related and phytoalexin biosynthesis-related genes are tightly associated with the fig22-induced promoter demethylation.The compromised accumulation of priming compounds and antimicrobial metabolites ultimately leads to a defense priming defect in the rdd-2 mutant.Our results reveal the critical role of active DNA demethylation in the MAMP-triggered immune response and provide unique insight into the molecular mechanism of fig22-modulated DNA demethylation.

Molecular Basis of Transfer of Induced Resistance in Plants

Two brown spot disease resistant varieties of tobacco, named NC89 V1 and NC89 V2, were obtained by first inducing from disease sensitive NC89 with the two hypovirulent viruses ToMV N14 and CMV SV52, then tissue culturing the plants and finally seed breeding. The disease resistance for both varieties was verified to be stable in three generations. The transcription activities of five plant defense response genes, pr 1a, chi, chs, pal, and lox, in NC89, NC89 V1, and NC89 V2 were studied through RNA blot hybridization. Genome DNA structural differences among the three tobacco lines were identified using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA(RAPD).