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A mutation in the cytokinin receptor CRE1 enhances susceptibility to tobacco mosaic virus in Nicotiana tabacum

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Abstract

Cytokinin (CTK)-mediated pathways play essential roles in plant stress responses. How CTK receptors affect plant resistance to viral pathogens remains unclear. Tobacco mosaic virus [recombinant TMV encoding green fluorescent protein (TMV-GFP)] was used to investigate the role of Nicotiana tabacum CRE1 (CTK receptor 1) in modulating virus susceptibility in N. tabacum. CRE1 deficiency enhanced the susceptibility of N. tabacum to TMV-GFP. The cre1 RNAi mutants showed extensive green florescence and higher transcript levels of the TMV coat protein gene than the wild type (WT) plants. CRE1 deficiency affected the antioxidant response to TMV-GFP, and the RNAi mutants had depressed antioxidant enzyme activities compared to the WT plants under virus infection. In addition, endogenous salicylic acid (SA) accumulation and the expression levels of SA pathway-related defence genes induced by TMV-GFP were significantly repressed in the RNAi mutants compared with the WT plants. Furthermore, the presence of exogenous CTK could only partially reduce the susceptibility of tobacco to TMV caused by CRE1 deficiency. Taken together, these results suggest that CRE1 plays a positive role in the tobacco defence response to the virus and is required for the induction and development of complete defence responses.

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Funding

This work was supported by the GDAS’ Project of Science and Technology Development (2020GDASYL-20200103050); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31772131).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Crop Stress Management, Institute of Bioengineering, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510316, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China

    Lijuan Chen

  2. Key Laboratory of Bio-Resource and Eco-Environment of Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Lijuan Chen, Wenshan Zou, Chunyan Fei & Dehui Xi

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  1. Lijuan Chen
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  2. Wenshan Zou
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Correspondence to Lijuan Chen.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Fig. 1

Expression levels of CRE1 were determined by qRT-PCR in the TMV- inoculated N. tabacum WT plants at 0, 3, 5 and 7 dpi. The error bars represent the means and the standard deviations of values that were obtained from three biological replicates at the indicated time points. Significant differences are denoted by different lowercase letters (TIF 28 kb)

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Supplementary Fig. 2

Expression levels of CRE1 were determined by qRT-PCR in the TMV-inoculated WT plants and RNAi mutants at 5 dpi. The error bars represent the means and standard deviations of values obtained from three biological replicates at the indicated time points. Significant differences are denoted as different lowercase letters (TIF 55 kb)

High Resolution Image (PNG 99 kb)

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Chen, L., Zou, W., Fei, C. et al. A mutation in the cytokinin receptor CRE1 enhances susceptibility to tobacco mosaic virus in Nicotiana tabacum. Eur J Plant Pathol 160, 15–25 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-021-02215-w

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