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Overlapping pathways involved in resistance against Sclerotinia stem rot in Brassica napus revealed through transcriptomic and metabolomic profiling

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Abstract

Brassica napus is one of the most important oilseed crops in the world, yet there are many challenges to its potential production. Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, which causes Sclerotinia stem rot, is a major fungal disease that reduces seed yield and oil quality. Research has been conducted to understand the genetic basis of resistance to Sclerotinia stem rot, with the majority of studies based on the identification of single or few resistant genes for disease control. The aim of this study was to identify genes involved in horizontal resistance to achieve a stable resistance response by investigating the key pathways adopted by the resistant lines in response to Sclerotinia stem rot. Therefore, we conducted comparative transcriptomic and metabolomic profiling to identify overlapping pathways in gene expression and biosynthesis. The resistance response was activated with the induction of the biosynthesis of amino acids and the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in the resistant line. Early induction of phenylpropanoid biosynthesis at 24 hours post inoculation and arginine biosynthesis at three time points, i.e., 24, 48, and 96 hours post inoculation, induced specificity in resistant line. Glucosinolate biosynthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis, and the alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism pathways were induced in the resistant line in our transcriptomics and metabolomics study. The genes for ethylene, salicylic acid, and jasmonic acid were also highly induced in the resistant line compared to the susceptible line based on the annotation of biotic stress genes using MapMan analysis. Our results may allow for the achievement of horizontal resistance and provide insight to breeders developing resistant varieties.

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Funding

This research was financially supported by the funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2017YFE0104800) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (31671725).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Muhammad Uzair Qasim, Qing Zhao, Muhammad Shahid, Huibin Huang, Chuchuan Fan & Yongming Zhou

  2. Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Oil Crops, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Oil Crop Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430062, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Guangqin Cai

  3. State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Guoqing Li

  4. The Provincial Key Lab of Plant Pathology of Hubei Province, College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Guoqing Li

Authors
  1. Muhammad Uzair Qasim
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  2. Qing Zhao
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  3. Muhammad Shahid
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  4. Guangqin Cai
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  5. Huibin Huang
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  6. Guoqing Li
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  7. Chuchuan Fan
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  8. Yongming Zhou
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Contributions

MQ and YZ designed the study. MQ, MS and QZ performed the experiments. GC, HH, GL and CF helped in data analysis. MQ and YZ wrote the manuscript. YZ supervised the project. All the authors read and revised the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yongming Zhou.

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Communicated by Daolong Dou.

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Qasim, M.U., Zhao, Q., Shahid, M. et al. Overlapping pathways involved in resistance against Sclerotinia stem rot in Brassica napus revealed through transcriptomic and metabolomic profiling. Plant Growth Regul 102, 297–312 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-023-00998-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-023-00998-y

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