Abstract
Main conclusion
CRISPR/Cas9-mediated Phospholipase C2 knock-out tomato plants are more resistant to Botrytis cinerea than wild-type plants, with less ROS and an increase and reduction of (JA) and (SA)-response marker genes, respectively.
Abstract
Genome-editing technologies allow non-transgenic site-specific mutagenesis of crops, offering a viable alternative to traditional breeding methods. In this study we used CRISPR/Cas9 to inactivate the tomato Phospholipase C2 gene (SlPLC2). Plant PLC activation is one of the earliest responses triggered by different pathogens regulating plant responses that, depending on the plant–pathogen interaction, result in plant resistance or susceptibility. The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) PLC gene family has six members, named from SlPLC1 to SlPLC6. We previously showed that SlPLC2 transcript levels increased upon xylanase infiltration (fungal elicitor) and that SlPLC2 participates in plant susceptibility to Botrytis cinerea. An efficient strategy to control diseases caused by pathogens is to disable susceptibility genes that facilitate infection. We obtained tomato SlPLC2-knock-out lines with decreased ROS production upon B. cinerea challenge. Since this fungus requires ROS-induced cell death to proliferate, SlPLC2-knock-out plants showed an enhanced resistance with smaller necrotic areas and reduced pathogen proliferation. Thus, we obtained SlPLC2 loss-of-function tomato lines more resistant to B. cinerea by means of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology.
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Data availability
The data sets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- CRISPR/Cas9:
-
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat/CRISPR-associated protein 9
- Hpi:
-
Hours post-inoculation
- JA:
-
Jasmonic acid
- PLC:
-
Phospholipase C
- SA:
-
Salicylic acid
- sgRNA:
-
Single guide RNA
- ROS:
-
Reactive oxygen species
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Bayer (Grants 4traits) and ANPCyT (PICT 2017 No0601).
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Communicated by Dorothea Bartels.
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Perk, E.A., Arruebarrena Di Palma, A., Colman, S. et al. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated phospholipase C 2 knock-out tomato plants are more resistant to Botrytis cinerea. Planta 257, 117 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-023-04147-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-023-04147-7