Title: | Knocking down a DNA demethylase gene affects potato plant defense against a specialist insect herbivore |
Author(s): | Zhang Y; Zhong J; Munawar A; Cai Y; He W; Zhang Y; Guo H; Gao Y; Zhu Z; Zhou W; |
Address: | "State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insect Pests, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. Hainan Institute, Zhejiang University, Sanya 572000, China. Department of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Yunnan Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resources, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China. State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Disease and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China" |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1460-2431 (Electronic) 0022-0957 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "DNA demethylase (DML) is involved in plant development and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, however, its role in plant-herbivore interaction remains elusive. Here, we found that the potato tuber moth, Phthorimaea operculella's herbivory rapidly induced the genome-wide DNA methylation and accumulation of DML genes' transcripts in potato plants. Herbivory-induction of DMLs' transcripts was suppressed in jasmonate-deficient plants, whereas exogenous application of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) improved DMLs' transcripts, indicating that the induction of DMLs' transcripts by herbivory is associated with jasmonate signaling. Moreover, P. operculella larvae grew heavier on a DML gene (StDML2)-knocked-down plants than on wildtype plants, and the decreased biosynthesis of jasmonates in the former may be responsible for this difference, since the larvae feeding on these two genotypes supplemented with MeJA showed similar growth. In addition, P. operculella adult moth preferred to oviposit on StDML2-knocked-down plants than on wildtype plants, which was associated with the reduced emission of ss-caryophyllene in the former. And supplementing ss-caryophyllene to these two genotypes further disrupted moths' oviposit choice preference for them. Interestingly, in StDML2-knocked-down plants, hypermethylation was found at the promoter regions for the key genes StAOS and StAOC in jasmonate biosynthetic pathway, as well as for the key gene StTPS12 in ss-caryophyllene production. Our findings suggest that knocking down StDML2 can affect plant's herbivore defense via affecting jasmonate signaling and defense compound production in potato plants" |
Keywords: | Phthorimaea operculella Solanum tuberosum Demeter-Like DNA demethylase jasmonate plant's herbivore defense volatile organic compounds; |
Notes: | "PublisherZhang, Yadong Zhong, Jian Munawar, Asim Cai, Yajie He, Wenjing Zhang, Yixin Guo, Han Gao, Yulin Zhu, Zengrong Zhou, Wenwu eng England 2023/10/02 J Exp Bot. 2023 Oct 2:erad387. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erad387" |