Identification of the Function of the Pathogenesis-Related Protein GmPR1L in the Resistance of Soybean to Cercospora sojina Hara

Yeyao Du; Nooral Amin; Naveed Ahmad; Hanzhu Zhang; Ye Zhang; Yang Song; Sujie Fan; Piwu Wang

doi:10.3390/genes14040920

Identification of the Function of the Pathogenesis-Related Protein GmPR1L in the Resistance of Soybean to Cercospora sojina Hara

Genes (Basel). 2023 Apr 15;14(4):920. doi: 10.3390/genes14040920.

Authors

Yeyao Du¹, Nooral Amin¹, Naveed Ahmad², Hanzhu Zhang³, Ye Zhang⁴, Yang Song¹, Sujie Fan¹, Piwu Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Agronomy, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China.
² Joint Center for Single Cell Biology, Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center of Agri-Seeds, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
³ Jilin Provincial Seed Management Station, Changchun 130033, China.
⁴ Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130118, China.

Abstract

Pathogenesis-related proteins, often used as molecular markers of disease resistance in plants, can enable plants to obtain systemic resistance. In this study, a gene encoding a pathogenesis-related protein was identified via RNA-seq sequencing analysis performed at different stages of soybean seedling development. Because the gene sequence showed the highest similarity with PR1L sequence in soybean, the gene was named GmPR1-9-like (GmPR1L). GmPR1L was either overexpressed or silenced in soybean seedlings through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation to examine the resistance of soybean to infection caused by Cercospora sojina Hara. The results revealed that GmPR1L-overexpressing soybean plants had a smaller lesion area and improved resistance to C. sojina infection, whereas GmPR1L-silenced plants had low resistance to C. sojina infection. Fluorescent real-time PCR indicated that overexpression of GmPR1L induced the expression of genes such as WRKY, PR9, and PR14, which are more likely to be co-expressed during C. sojina infection. Furthermore, the activities of SOD, POD, CAT, and PAL were significantly increased in GmPR1L-overexpressing soybean plants after seven days of infection. The resistance of the GmPR1L-overexpressing lines OEA1 and OEA2 to C. sojina infection was significantly increased from a neutral level in wild-type plants to a moderate level. These findings predominantly reveal the positive role of GmPR1L in inducing resistance to C. sojina infection in soybean, which may facilitate the production of improved disease-resistant soybean cultivars in the future.

Keywords: Cercospora sojina Hara; GmPR1L; agronomic traits; defense enzyme activity; relative expression level; soybean.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Antibodies
Ascomycota* / genetics
Cercospora
Glycine max / genetics
Plant Diseases / genetics

Substances

Antibodies

Supplementary concepts

Cercospora sojina

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Major science and technology projects (20210302002NC), Jilin Province Science and Technology Development Plan Project, grant number 20190103120JH. Jilin Province Science and Technology Development Plan—Outstanding Young Talents Fund Project, grant number 20190103120J. The fourth batch of Jilin Province Youth Science and Technology Talent Support Project, grant number QT202020 and National Natural Science Foundation of China Projects, grant number 31801381.