Myco-Synergism Boosts Herbivory-Induced Maize Defense by Triggering Antioxidants and Phytohormone Signaling

Raufa Batool; Muhammad Jawad Umer; Yangzhou Wang; Kanglai He; Muhammad Zeeshan Shabbir; Tiantao Zhang; Shuxiong Bai; Jie Chen; Zhenying Wang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.790504

Myco-Synergism Boosts Herbivory-Induced Maize Defense by Triggering Antioxidants and Phytohormone Signaling

Front Plant Sci. 2022 Feb 17:13:790504. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.790504. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Raufa Batool¹, Muhammad Jawad Umer², Yangzhou Wang³, Kanglai He¹, Muhammad Zeeshan Shabbir⁴, Tiantao Zhang¹, Shuxiong Bai¹, Jie Chen⁵, Zhenying Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (ICR, CAAS), Anyang, China.
³ Insect Ecology, Institute of Plant Protection, Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, China.
⁴ Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
⁵ School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Background: Biocontrol strategies are the best possible and eco-friendly solution to develop resistance against O furnacalis and improve the maize yield. However, the knowledge about underlying molecular mechanisms, metabolic shifts, and hormonal signaling is limited.

Methods: Here, we used an axenic and a consortium of entomopathogenic Beauveria bassiana OFDH1-5 and a pathogen-antagonistic Trichoderma asperellum GDFS1009 in maize and observed that consortium applications resulted in higher chlorophyll contents and antioxidants activities [superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), proline, protease, and polyphenol oxidase (PPO)] with a decrease in O. furnacalis survival. We performed a comprehensive transcriptome and an untargeted metabolome profiling for the first time at a vegetative stage in fungal inoculated maize leaves at 0-, 12-, 24-, 48-, and 72-h post insect infestation.

Results: The consortium of B. bassiana and T. asperellum leads to 80-95% of O. furnacalis mortality. A total of 13,156 differentially expressed genes were used for weighted gene coexpression network analysis. We identified the six significant modules containing thirteen candidate genes [protein kinase (GRMZM2G025459), acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (GRMZM5G864319), thioredoxin gene (GRMZM2G091481), glutathione S-transferase (GRMZM2G116273), patatin-like phospholipase gene (GRMZM2G154523), cytochrome P450 (GRMZM2G139874), protease inhibitor (GRMZM2G004466), (AC233926.1_FG002), chitinase (GRMZM2G453805), defensin (GRMZM2G392863), peroxidase (GRMZM2G144153), GDSL- like lipase (AC212068.4_FG005), and Beta-glucosidase (GRMZM2G031660)], which are not previously reported that are highly correlated with Jasmonic acid - Ethylene (JA-ET) signaling pathway and antioxidants. We detected a total of 130 negative and 491 positive metabolomic features using a ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF-MS). Intramodular significance and real time-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) expressions showed that these genes are the true candidate genes. Consortium treated maize had higher jasmonic acid (JA), salicylic acid (SA), and ethylene (ET) levels.

Conclusion: Our results provide insights into the genetics, biochemicals, and metabolic diversity and are useful for future biocontrol strategies against ACB attacks.

Keywords: Beauveria bassiana; Ostrinia furnacalis; Trichoderma asperellum; antioxidants myco-synergism triggers herbivory-induced defense; myco-synergism.