Verticillium wilt disease becomes a major threat to many economically important crops. It is unclear whether and how plant immunity takes place during cotton-Verticillium interaction due to the lack of marker genes. T...Verticillium wilt disease becomes a major threat to many economically important crops. It is unclear whether and how plant immunity takes place during cotton-Verticillium interaction due to the lack of marker genes. Taking advantage of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) genome, we discovered pathogenesis-related (PR) gene families, which have been widely used as markers of immune responses in plants. To profile the expression of G. hirsutum PR genes in the process of plant immunity, we treated cotton roots with two immunogenic peptides, fig22 and nlp20 known as pathogen-associated molecular patterns, as well as three Verticillium dahliae-derived peptides, nlp20vd2, nlp23vd3, and nlp23vd4 which are highly identical to nlp20. Quantitative real-time PCR results revealed that 14 G. hirsutum PR gene (GhPR) families were induced or suppressed independently in response to fig22, nip20, nlp20va2, nlp23vd3, and nlp23vd4. Most GhPR genes are expressed highest at 3 h post incubation of immunogenic peptides. Compared to fig22 and nlp20, nlp20vd2 is more effective to trigger up-regulated expression of GhPR genes. Notably, both nlp23vd3 and nlp23vd4 are able to induce GhPR gene up-regulation, although they do not induce necrosis on cotton leaves. Thus, our results provide marker genes and new immunogenic peptides for further investigation of cotton-V, dahliae interaction.展开更多
The human pathogen, group A rotavirus, is the most prevalent cause of acute infantile and pediatric gastroenteritis worldwide, especially in developing countries. There is an urgent demand for safer, more effective an...The human pathogen, group A rotavirus, is the most prevalent cause of acute infantile and pediatric gastroenteritis worldwide, especially in developing countries. There is an urgent demand for safer, more effective and cheaper vaccines against rotavirus infection. Plant-derived antigens may provide an exclusive way to produce economical subunit vaccines. Virus-like particles, constituting viral capsid proteins without viral nucleic acids, are considered a far safer candidate compared with live attenuated viral vaccines. In this study, the rotavirus capsid proteins VP2, VP6 and VP7 were co-expressed in transgenic tobacco plants, and their expression levels, formation of rotavirus-like particles (RV VLPs) and immunogenicity were extensively studied. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR and Western blot analysis revealed that the expression level of vp6 was the highest while vp7 was expressed at the lowest levels. The RV VLPs were purified from transgenic tobacco plants and analyzed by electron microscopy and Western blot. Results indicated that the plant-derived VP2, VP6 and VP7 proteins self-assembled into 2/6 or 2/6/7 RV VLPs with a diameter of 60-80 nm. When orally delivered into mice with cholera toxin as an adjuvant, the total soluble protein extracted from transgenic tobacco plants induced rotavirus-specific antibodies comparable with those of attenuated rotavirus vaccines, while VP 2/6/7 induced higher serum IgG and fecal IgA titers compared with VP 2/6.展开更多
基金supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDB11040500) to Hui-Shan GuoNational Natural Science Foundation(31500119) to Chenlei HuaNational Natural Science Foundation(31600124) to Jian-Hua Zhao
文摘Verticillium wilt disease becomes a major threat to many economically important crops. It is unclear whether and how plant immunity takes place during cotton-Verticillium interaction due to the lack of marker genes. Taking advantage of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) genome, we discovered pathogenesis-related (PR) gene families, which have been widely used as markers of immune responses in plants. To profile the expression of G. hirsutum PR genes in the process of plant immunity, we treated cotton roots with two immunogenic peptides, fig22 and nlp20 known as pathogen-associated molecular patterns, as well as three Verticillium dahliae-derived peptides, nlp20vd2, nlp23vd3, and nlp23vd4 which are highly identical to nlp20. Quantitative real-time PCR results revealed that 14 G. hirsutum PR gene (GhPR) families were induced or suppressed independently in response to fig22, nip20, nlp20va2, nlp23vd3, and nlp23vd4. Most GhPR genes are expressed highest at 3 h post incubation of immunogenic peptides. Compared to fig22 and nlp20, nlp20vd2 is more effective to trigger up-regulated expression of GhPR genes. Notably, both nlp23vd3 and nlp23vd4 are able to induce GhPR gene up-regulation, although they do not induce necrosis on cotton leaves. Thus, our results provide marker genes and new immunogenic peptides for further investigation of cotton-V, dahliae interaction.
基金supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007AA100505)
文摘The human pathogen, group A rotavirus, is the most prevalent cause of acute infantile and pediatric gastroenteritis worldwide, especially in developing countries. There is an urgent demand for safer, more effective and cheaper vaccines against rotavirus infection. Plant-derived antigens may provide an exclusive way to produce economical subunit vaccines. Virus-like particles, constituting viral capsid proteins without viral nucleic acids, are considered a far safer candidate compared with live attenuated viral vaccines. In this study, the rotavirus capsid proteins VP2, VP6 and VP7 were co-expressed in transgenic tobacco plants, and their expression levels, formation of rotavirus-like particles (RV VLPs) and immunogenicity were extensively studied. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR and Western blot analysis revealed that the expression level of vp6 was the highest while vp7 was expressed at the lowest levels. The RV VLPs were purified from transgenic tobacco plants and analyzed by electron microscopy and Western blot. Results indicated that the plant-derived VP2, VP6 and VP7 proteins self-assembled into 2/6 or 2/6/7 RV VLPs with a diameter of 60-80 nm. When orally delivered into mice with cholera toxin as an adjuvant, the total soluble protein extracted from transgenic tobacco plants induced rotavirus-specific antibodies comparable with those of attenuated rotavirus vaccines, while VP 2/6/7 induced higher serum IgG and fecal IgA titers compared with VP 2/6.