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Characterization and fine mapping of a maize lesion mimic mutant (Les8) with enhanced resistance to Curvularia leaf spot and southern leaf blight

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Abstract

Key message

A novel light-dependent dominant lesion mimic mutant with enhanced multiple disease resistance was physiologically, biochemically, and genetically characterized; the causal gene was fine mapped to a 909 kb interval containing 38 genes.

Abstract

Identification of genes that confer multiple disease resistance (MDR) is crucial for the improvement of maize disease resistance. However, very limited genes are identified as MDR genes in maize. In this study, we characterized a dominant disease lesion mimics 8 (Les8) mutant that had chlorotic lesions on the leaves and showed enhanced resistance to both curvularia leaf spot and southern leaf blight. Major agronomic traits were not obviously altered, while decreased chlorophyll content was observed in the mutant, and the genetic effect of the Les8 mutation was stable in different genetic backgrounds. By BSR-seq analysis and map-based cloning, the LES8 gene was mapped into a 909 kb region containing 38 candidate genes on chromosome 9 wherein no lesion mimic or disease-resistance genes were previously reported. Using transcriptomics analysis, we found that genes involved in defense responses and secondary metabolite biosynthesis were enriched in the significantly up-regulated genes, while genes involved in photosynthesis and carbohydrate-related pathways were enriched in the significantly down-regulated genes in Les8. In addition, there was an overaccumulation of jasmonic acid and lignin but not salicylic acid in Les8. Taken together, this study revealed candidate genes and potential mechanism underlying Les8-conferred MDR in maize.

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Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are available within the article/supplementary files. The plant materials and datasets are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. The sequencing data from the article can be found in the national genomic data center (https://ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/) under the following accession number: CRA013433.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Maize Genetics Cooperation Stock Center for kindly supplying the Les8-N2005 mutant for this study. We thank Dr. Chunsheng Xue of Shenyang Agricultural University for providing the Curvularia lunata strain CX-3. We thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U2004207 to MG), National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFD1201801, to MG), the Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars in Henan (212300410007, to MG), Henan Province Joint Fund for Science and Technology Research (222103810003, to JL), Henan Province Major Science and Technology Project (221100110300, to JT), for the funding for this study.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U2004207, to MG), National key research and development program of China (2022YFD1201801, to MG), the Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars in Henan (212300410007, to MG), Henan Province Joint Fund for Science and Technology Research (222103810003, to JL), Henan Province Major Science and Technology Project (221100110300, to JT).

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  1. Jiankun Li and Tianyuan Fan these authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Collaborative Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops, Center for Crop Genome Engineering, College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450002, China

    Jiankun Li, Tianyuan Fan, Ying Zhang, Ye Xing, Mengyao Chen, Ying Wang, Jie Gao, Na Zhang, Jinjun Tian, Chenyang Zhao, Xiaohuan Mu, Jihua Tang, Hongbin Niu & Mingyue Gou

  2. The Shennong Laboratory, Zhengzhou, 450002, Henan, China

    Jiankun Li, Xiaohuan Mu, Jihua Tang & Mingyue Gou

  3. Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Sihan Zhen & Junjie Fu

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  1. Jiankun Li
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Contributions

MG, JK and HN designed the experiments; JL and TF performed most of the experiments and analyzed the data, YZ and MC worked on the RNA extraction and qRT-PCR; YW, JG, NZ, and JT worked on the map-based cloning; JT evaluated the phenotype of F2 population and provided critical advice on gene mapping; CZ and HN performed the pathogen test and phenotypic identification; YZ and XM measured the lignin content. JL and TF analyzed the transcriptional data; SZ and JF performed the BSR-seq analysis; JL and MG wrote the manuscript; all authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hongbin Niu or Mingyue Gou.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests about this work.

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All experiments and data analyses were conducted according to the current laws of the country. The manuscript has not been submitted to any other journal.

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Communicated by Mingliang Xu.

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Li, J., Fan, T., Zhang, Y. et al. Characterization and fine mapping of a maize lesion mimic mutant (Les8) with enhanced resistance to Curvularia leaf spot and southern leaf blight. Theor Appl Genet 137, 7 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-023-04511-x

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