The bZIP transcription factor GmbZIP15 facilitates resistance against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Phytophthora sojae infection in soybean

Man Zhang; Yanhui Liu; Zixian Li; Zeyuan She; Mengnan Chai; Mohammad Aslam; Qing He; Youmei Huang; Fangqian Chen; Huihuang Chen; Shikui Song; Bingrui Wang; Hanyang Cai; Yuan Qin

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102642

The bZIP transcription factor GmbZIP15 facilitates resistance against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Phytophthora sojae infection in soybean

iScience. 2021 May 24;24(6):102642. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102642. eCollection 2021 Jun 25.

Authors

Man Zhang¹, Yanhui Liu¹, Zixian Li¹, Zeyuan She², Mengnan Chai¹, Mohammad Aslam², Qing He¹, Youmei Huang¹, Fangqian Chen¹, Huihuang Chen¹, Shikui Song³, Bingrui Wang⁴, Hanyang Cai¹, Yuan Qin^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Ecological Pest Control for Fujian and Taiwan Crops, Key Lab of Genetics, Breeding and Multiple Utilization of Crops, Ministry of Education, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Haixia Applied Plant Systems Biology, Center for Genomics and Biotechnology, College of Plant Protection, College of Life Sciences, College of Crop Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian Province, China.
² State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, Guangxi Key Lab of Sugarcane Biology, College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, Guangxi, China.
³ Horticultural Plant Biology and Metabolomics Center, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian Province, China.
⁴ College of Plant Science & Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.

Abstract

Soybean, one of the most valuable oilseed crops, is under constant pressure from pathogens. bZIP transcription factors (TFs) composing one of the largest TF families in plants have diverse functions. Biochemical and physiological analyses were performed to characterize the regulatory roles of soybean bZIP TF GmbZIP15 in response to pathogens. We found that transgenic soybean plants overexpressing GmbZIP15 has increased resistance against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Phytophthora sojae. Besides, GmbZIP15 regulates pathogen response by modulating the antioxidant defense system and phytohormone signaling. In addition, we performed chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing to identify the downstream genes of GmbZIP15 in response to S. sclerotiorum and found that GmbZIP15 can activate or repress the expression of defense-related genes through direct promoter binding. Taken together, these results indicate that GmbZIP15 plays a positive role in pathogen resistance in soybean, and this activity may be dependent on phytohormone signaling.

Keywords: Epigenetics; Plant Biology; Plant Pathology.