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Virus-induced silencing of WIPK and SIPK genes reduces resistance to a bacterial pathogen, but has no effect on the INF1-induced hypersensitive response (HR) in Nicotiana benthamiana

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Abstract

Activation of two mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), wound-induced protein kinase (WIPK) and salicylic acid-induced protein kinase (SIPK), is one of the earliest responses that occur in tobacco plants that have been wounded, treated with pathogen-derived elicitors or challenged with avirulent pathogens. We isolated cDNAs for these MAPKs ( NbWIPK and NbSIPK) from Nicotiana benthamiana. The function of NbWIPK and NbSIPK in mediating the hypersensitive response (HR) triggered by infiltration with INF1 protein (the major elicitin secreted by Phytophthora infestans), and the defense response to an incompatible bacterial pathogen ( Pseudomonas cichorii), was investigated by employing virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) to inhibit expression of the WIPK and SIPK genes in N. benthamiana. Silencing of WIPK or SIPK, or both genes simultaneously, resulted in reduced resistance to P. cichorii, but no change was observed in the timing or extent of HR development after treatment with INF1.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. D. C. Baulcombe (Sainsbury Laboratory, John Innes Centre) for the gift of plasmids pPC2S and pTXS.GFP. We are grateful to Dr. S. Seo, Dr. Y. Ohashi (National Institute of Agrobiological Resources) for the provision of anti-WIPK antibody and for invaluable suggestions. We thank Dr. T. Romeis (Max-Planck-Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Dr. H. Yoshioka (Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University) and Dr. Y. Hikichi (Faculty of Agriculture, Kochi University) for invaluable suggestions. PSC is thanks the JSPS for financial help in the form of an Invitation Research Fellowship. This work was carried out in a containment facility of Iwate Biotechnology Research Center under License No. 13-YokoShoku-965 from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan, and License No. 12-Ken-Kyoku-52 from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Japan. This study was in part supported by the Research for the Future program of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

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Author notes

  1. P. C. Sharma

    Present address: School of Biotechnology, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, 110006, Delhi, India

  2. H. Saitoh

    Present address: Department of Plant Microbe Interactions, Max-Planck-Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Carl-von-Linné-Weg 10, 50829, Cologne, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Botany, Ch. Charan Singh University, 250004, Meerut, India

    P. C. Sharma

  2. Iwate Biotechnology Research Center, 22-174-4 Narita, Kitakami, Iwate 024-0003, Japan

    A. Ito, T. Shimizu, R. Terauchi & H. Saitoh

  3. Department of Plant Pathology, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Ohio State University, Wooster, OH 44691, USA

    S. Kamoun

  4. Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 5-3-1 Koujimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8471, Japan

    H. Saitoh

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  1. P. C. Sharma
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Correspondence to H. Saitoh.

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Communicated by R. G. Herrmann

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Sharma, P.C., Ito, A., Shimizu, T. et al. Virus-induced silencing of WIPK and SIPK genes reduces resistance to a bacterial pathogen, but has no effect on the INF1-induced hypersensitive response (HR) in Nicotiana benthamiana . Mol Gen Genomics 269, 583–591 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-003-0872-9

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