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An MAP kinase interacts with LHK1 and regulates nodule organogenesis in Lotus japonicus

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Abstract

Symbiosis receptor-like kinase (SymRK) is a key protein mediating the legume-Rhizobium symbiosis. Our previous work has identified an MAP kinase kinase, SIP2, as a SymRK-interacting protein to positively regulate nodule organogenesis in Lotus japonicus, suggesting that an MAPK cascade might be involved in Rhizobium-legume symbiosis. In this study, LjMPK6 was identified as a phosphorylation target of SIP2. Stable transgenic L. japonicus with RNAi silencing of LjMPK6 decreased the numbers of nodule primordia (NP) and nodule, while plants overexpressing LjMPK6 increased the numbers of nodule, infection threads (ITs), and NP, indicating that LjMPK6 plays a positive role in nodulation. LjMPK6 could interact with a cytokinin receptor, LHK1 both in vivo and in vitro. LjMPK6 was shown to compete with LHP1 to bind to the receiver domain (RD) of LHK1and to downregulate the expression of two LjACS (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase) genes and ethylene levels during nodulation. This study demonstrated an important role of LjMPK6 in regulation of nodule organogenesis and ethylene production in L. japonicus.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. K. Szczyglowski (Agriculture and Agri- Food Canada, University of Western Ontario, Canada) for kindly providing LHK1 mutants, Dr. A. Downie (John Innes Centre) for providing M. loti strain R7A carrying pMP2112, Dr. G. Wu (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China) for providing M. loti MAFF303099, Dr. S. Wang (Huazhong Agricultural University, China) for providing pCAMBIA1301U, L. japonicus LORE1 mutant collection (Centre for Carbohydrate Recongnition and Signaling, Aarhus University, Denmark) for providing LjMPK6 mutants. This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YF0100700), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31670240 and 31870219), the State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology (AMLKF201503 and AMLKF201608), the Graduate Education Innovation Fund of Huazhong Agricultural University (to Z.Z.), and Graduate Student Research Innovation Project of Huazhong Agricultural University (to J.Y.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Jun Yin, Xiaomin Guan, Heng Zhang, Longxiang Wang, Hao Li, Qing Zhang, Tao Chen, Zeyuan Xu, Yangrong Cao & Zhongming Zhang

  2. Department of Plant, Soil and Entomological Sciences and Program of Microbiology, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, 83844, USA

    Zonglie Hong

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  1. Jun Yin
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  2. Xiaomin Guan
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Correspondence to Yangrong Cao or Zhongming Zhang.

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Electronic supplementary material

Figure S1

Expression levels of NIN in L. japonicus.

Figure S2

GUS activity analysis in stable transgenic L. japonicus plants expressing LjMPK6pro:GUS.

Figure S3

Characterization of an LjMPK6 LORE1 mutant.

Figure S4

Gus staining in transgenic plants expressing GUS reporter under the control of LjNAD1 promoter or maize ubiquitin promoter.

Figure S5 Infection events in LjMPK6 RNAi and LjMPK6-ox plants.

Figure S6

Expression of LjMPK6 in LjMPK6-ox stable transgenic plants under the control of L. japonicus ubiquitin promoter.

Figure S7

Immunoblot analysis of protein expression in yeast cells.

Figure S8

Competition of BSA with LHP1 for binding to LHK1.

Figure S9

Expression of NIN and NSP2 in LjMPK6-ox and LjMPK6-RNAi transgenic plants during nodulation.

Supplementary material, approximately 610 KB.

Table S1

Primers used in this study

Table S2

Accession numbers of genes used in this study

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Yin, J., Guan, X., Zhang, H. et al. An MAP kinase interacts with LHK1 and regulates nodule organogenesis in Lotus japonicus. Sci. China Life Sci. 62, 1203–1217 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-018-9444-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-018-9444-9

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