Open AccessSalicylic acid carboxyl glucosyltransferase UGT87E7 regulates disease resistance in Camellia sinensis
Author(s) -
Yunqing Hu,
Mengting Zhang,
Mengqian Lu,
Yi Wu,
Tingting Jing,
Ming Zhao,
Yifan Zhao,
Yingying Feng,
Jingming Wang,
Ting Gao,
Zixiang Zhou,
Bin Wu,
Hao Jiang,
Xiaochun Wan,
Wilfried Schwab,
Chuankui Song
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plant physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.554
H-Index - 312
eISSN - 1532-2548
pISSN - 0032-0889
DOI - 10.1093/plphys/kiab569
Subject(s) - salicylic acid , glucosyltransferase , camellia sinensis , biology , plant disease resistance , arabidopsis , pathogenesis related protein , transcriptome , arabidopsis thaliana , biochemistry , gene , gene expression , botany , mutant
Plant immune response following pathogenic infection is regulated by plant hormones, and salicylic acid (SA) and its sugar conjugates play important roles in establishing basal resistance. Here, the important pathogen Pseudopestalotiopsis camelliae-sinensis (Pcs) was isolated from tea gray blight, one of the most destructive diseases in tea plantations. Transcriptomic analysis led to the discovery of the putative Camellia sinensis UDP-glucosyltransferase CsUGT87E7 whose expression was significantly induced by SA application and Pcs infection. Recombinant CsUGT87E7 glucosylates SA with a Km value of 12 µM to form SA glucose ester (SGE). Downregulation reduced the accumulation of SGE, and CsUGT87E7-silenced tea plants exhibited greater susceptibility to pathogen infection than control plants. Similarly, CsUGT87E7-silenced tea leaves accumulated significantly less SA after infection and showed reduced expression of pathogenesis-related genes. These results suggest that CsUGT87E7 is an SA carboxyl glucosyltransferase that plays a positive role in plant disease resistance by modulating SA homeostasis through a mechanism distinct from that described in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). This study provides insight into the mechanisms of SA metabolism and highlights the role of SGE in the modulation of plant disease resistance.