Mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK)-regulated genes with predicted signal peptides function in the Glycine max defense response to the root pathogenic nematode Heterodera glycines

PLoS One. 2020 Nov 4;15(11):e0241678. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241678. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Glycine max has 32 mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs), nine of them exhibiting defense functions (defense MAPKs) to the plant parasitic nematode Heterodera glycines. RNA seq analyses of transgenic G. max lines overexpressing (OE) each defense MAPK has led to the identification of 309 genes that are increased in their relative transcript abundance by all 9 defense MAPKs. Here, 71 of those genes are shown to also have measurable amounts of transcript in H. glycines-induced nurse cells (syncytia) produced in the root that are undergoing a defense response. The 71 genes have been grouped into 7 types, based on their expression profile. Among the 71 genes are 8 putatively-secreted proteins that include a galactose mutarotase-like protein, pollen Ole e 1 allergen and extensin protein, endomembrane protein 70 protein, O-glycosyl hydrolase 17 protein, glycosyl hydrolase 32 protein, FASCICLIN-like arabinogalactan protein 17 precursor, secreted peroxidase and a pathogenesis-related thaumatin protein. Functional transgenic analyses of all 8 of these candidate defense genes that employ their overexpression and RNA interference (RNAi) demonstrate they have a role in defense. Overexpression experiments that increase the relative transcript abundance of the candidate defense gene reduces the ability that the plant parasitic nematode Heterodera glycines has in completing its life cycle while, in contrast, RNAi of these genes leads to an increase in parasitism. The results provide a genomic analysis of the importance of MAPK signaling in relation to the secretion apparatus during the defense process defense in the G. max-H. glycines pathosystem and identify additional targets for future studies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Computational Biology
  • Gene Ontology
  • Glycine max / enzymology
  • Glycine max / metabolism*
  • Glycine max / parasitology*
  • Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / genetics
  • Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / metabolism*
  • Plant Diseases / genetics
  • Plant Diseases / parasitology*
  • Plant Roots / enzymology
  • Plant Roots / metabolism*
  • Plant Roots / parasitology
  • Protein Sorting Signals / genetics
  • Protein Sorting Signals / physiology*
  • RNA Interference

Substances

  • Protein Sorting Signals
  • Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases

Grants and funding

The authors are thankful for an awarded competitive Special Research Initiative grant from the College of Arts and Sciences at Mississippi State University (VPK), CAS-SRI-2018-1. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.