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Roles of small RNA s in soybean defense against P hytophthora sojae infection
Author(s) -
Wong James,
Gao Lei,
Yang Yang,
Zhai Jixian,
Arikit Siwaret,
Yu Yu,
Duan Shuyi,
Chan Vicky,
Xiong Qin,
Yan Jun,
Li Shengben,
Liu Renyi,
Wang Yuanchao,
Tang Guiliang,
Meyers Blake C.,
Chen Xuemei,
Ma Wenbo
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the plant journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.058
H-Index - 269
eISSN - 1365-313X
pISSN - 0960-7412
DOI - 10.1111/tpj.12590
Subject(s) - biology , rna , gene knockdown , rna silencing , pentatricopeptide repeat , rna interference , gene , small rna , gene expression , small interfering rna , microbiology and biotechnology , rna editing , genetics
Summary The genus P hytophthora consists of many notorious pathogens of crops and forestry trees. At present, battling P hytophthora diseases is challenging due to a lack of understanding of their pathogenesis. We investigated the role of small RNA s in regulating soybean defense in response to infection by P hytophthora sojae , the second most destructive pathogen of soybean. Small RNA s, including micro RNA s (mi RNA s) and small interfering RNA s (si RNA s), are universal regulators that repress target gene expression in eukaryotes. We identified known and novel small RNA s that differentially accumulated during P . sojae infection in soybean roots. Among them, miR393 and miR166 were induced by heat‐inactivated P . sojae hyphae, indicating that they may be involved in soybean basal defense. Indeed, knocking down the level of mature mi R 393 led to enhanced susceptibility of soybean to P . sojae ; furthermore, the expression of isoflavonoid biosynthetic genes was drastically reduced in mi R 393 knockdown roots. These data suggest that mi R 393 promotes soybean defense against P . sojae . In addition to mi RNA s, P . sojae infection also resulted in increased accumulation of phased si RNA s (phasi RNA s) that are predominantly generated from canonical resistance genes encoding nucleotide binding‐leucine rich repeat proteins and genes encoding pentatricopeptide repeat‐containing proteins. This work identifies specific mi RNA s and phasi RNA s that regulate defense‐associated genes in soybean during P hytophthora infection.