Chrysanthemum CmWRKY53 negatively regulates the resistance of chrysanthemum to the aphid Macrosiphoniella sanborni

Wanwan Zhang; Tianwei Gao; Peiling Li; Chang Tian; Aiping Song; Jiafu Jiang; Zhiyong Guan; Weimin Fang; Fadi Chen; Sumei Chen

doi:10.1038/s41438-020-0334-0

Chrysanthemum CmWRKY53 negatively regulates the resistance of chrysanthemum to the aphid Macrosiphoniella sanborni

Hortic Res. 2020 Jul 1;7(1):109. doi: 10.1038/s41438-020-0334-0. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Wanwan Zhang^#¹, Tianwei Gao^#¹, Peiling Li^#^{1

2}, Chang Tian¹, Aiping Song¹, Jiafu Jiang¹, Zhiyong Guan¹, Weimin Fang¹, Fadi Chen¹, Sumei Chen¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Key Laboratory of Landscaping, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095 China.
² College of Horticulture, Xinyang Agricultural and Forestry University, Xinyang, Henan China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Chrysanthemum is frequently attacked by aphids, which greatly hinders the growth and ornamental value of this plant species. WRKY transcription factors play an important role in the response to biotic stresses such as pathogen and insect stresses. Here, chrysanthemum CmWRKY53 was cloned, and its expression was induced by aphid infestation. To verify the role of CmWRKY53 in resistance to aphids, CmWRKY53 transgenic chrysanthemum was generated. CmWRKY53 was found to mediate the susceptibility of chrysanthemum to aphids. The expression levels of secondary metabolite biosynthesis genes, such as peroxidase- and polyphenol oxidase-encoding genes, decreased in CmWRKY53-overexpressing (CmWRKY53-Oe) plants but dramatically increased in chimeric dominant repressor (CmWRKY53-SRDX) plants, suggesting that CmWRKY53 contributes to the susceptibility of chrysanthemum to aphids, possibly due to its role in the regulation of secondary metabolites.

Keywords: Biotic; Secondary metabolism; Transcription.