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Expression of Lignin Biosynthetic Genes in Wheat during Development and upon Infection by Fungal Pathogens

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Abstract

As a major component of the cell wall, lignin plays an important role in plant development and defense response to pathogens, but negatively impacts biomass processability for biofuels. Silencing the target lignin genes for greater biomass processability should not significantly affect plant development and biomass yield but also must not compromise disease resistance. Here, we report experiments to identify a set of lignin genes that may be silenced without compromising disease resistance. We profiled the expression of 32 lignin biosynthetic candidate genes by qRT-PCR in 17 wheat tissues collected at three developmental stages. Twenty-one genes were expressed at a much higher level in stems compared to sheaths and leaf blades. Expression of seven these genes significantly correlated with lignin content. The co-expression patterns indicated that these 21 genes are under strong developmental regulation and may play a role in lignin biosynthesis. Profiling gene expression of same tissues challenged by two fungal pathogens, Fusarium graminearum and Puccina triticina indicated that expression of 17 genes was induced by F. graminearum. Only PAL1, a non-developmental-regulated gene, was induced by P. triticina. Thus, lignin biosynthetic pathway overlaps defense response to F. graminearum. Based on these criteria, 17 genes, F5H1, F5H2, 4CL2, CCR2, COMT1, and COMT2 in particular that do not overlap with disease resistance pathway, may be the targets for downregulation.

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Abbreviations

4CL:

4-coumarate CoA ligase

ABSL:

Acetyl bromide soluble lignin

C3H:

p-coumaroyl shikimate/quinate 3′-hydroxylase

C4H:

cinnamate 4-hydroxlase

CCoAOMT:

caffeoyl CoA O-methyltransferase

CCR:

cinnamoyl CoA reductase

CAD:

cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase

COMT:

caffeic acid/5-hydroxyferulic acid O-methyltransferase

EST:

expressed sequence tag

F5H:

ferulate 5-hydroxylase

HCT:

hydroxycinnamoyl CoA:shikimate/quinate hydroxycinnamoyltransferase

PAL:

phenylalanine ammonia lyase

qRT-PCR:

quantitative real-time PCR

TaGI:

Triticum aestivum gene index database

TC:

tentative consensus

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Robert L. Bowden for inoculating P. triticina, Dr. Michael O. Pumphrey for supplying seeds of wheat line HR58 and conidia spores of F. graminearum and Dr Michael Udvardi for providing the LjLb2 cDNA clone. This project was funded by the USDA/DOE Feedstock Genomics Program. This paper is contribution No. 10-341-J from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station (Manhattan, KS, USA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wheat Genetic and Genomic Resources Center, Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 66506-5502, USA

    Caili Bi & Bikram S. Gill

  2. Department of Plant Biology, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Ardmore, OK, 73401, USA

    Fang Chen & Lisa Jackson

  3. Department of Biology and Microbiology, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, 57007, USA

    Wanlong Li

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  1. Caili Bi
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  2. Fang Chen
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  4. Bikram S. Gill
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  5. Wanlong Li
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Correspondence to Wanlong Li.

Electronic supplementary material

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Table S1

Correlation coefficients between the expression levels of monolignol biosynthetic candidate genes in the internodes, sheath and leaf blades at Feeks’ Stage 10.0 (XLS 37 kb)

Table S2

XLS 34 kb

Table S3

XLS 34 kb

Table S4

XLS 33 kb

Table S5

XLS 33 kb

Table S6

XLS 32 kb

Table S7

Expression levels of monoligol biosynthetic candidate genes at Feeks’ stage 2, 6, and 10.0 (XLS 30 kb)

Table S8

Expression levels of monolignol biosynthetic candidate genes in internodes, sheaths and leaves at Feeks’ stage 10.0 (XLS 32 kb)

Table S9

XLS 32 kb

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Bi, C., Chen, F., Jackson, L. et al. Expression of Lignin Biosynthetic Genes in Wheat during Development and upon Infection by Fungal Pathogens. Plant Mol Biol Rep 29, 149–161 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-010-0219-8

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