Overexpression of Three Glucosinolate Biosynthesis Genes in Brassica napus Identifies Enhanced Resistance to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Botrytis cinerea

PLoS One. 2015 Oct 14;10(10):e0140491. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0140491. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Botrytis cinerea are notorious plant pathogenic fungi with an extensive host range including Brassica crops. Glucosinolates (GSLs) are an important group of secondary metabolites characteristic of the Brassicales order, whose degradation products are proving to be increasingly important in plant protection. Enhancing the defense effect of GSL and their associated degradation products is an attractive strategy to strengthen the resistance of plants by transgenic approaches. We generated the lines of Brassica napus with three biosynthesis genes involved in GSL metabolic pathway (BnMAM1, BnCYP83A1 and BnUGT74B1), respectively. We then measured the foliar GSLs of each transgenic lines and inoculated them with S. sclerotiorum and B. cinerea. Compared with the wild type control, over-expressing BnUGT74B1 in B. napus increased the aliphatic and indolic GSL levels by 1.7 and 1.5 folds in leaves respectively; while over-expressing BnMAM1 or BnCYP83A1 resulted in an approximate 1.5-fold higher only in the aliphatic GSL level in leaves. The results of plant inoculation demonstrated that BnUGT74B1-overexpressing lines showed less severe disease symptoms and tissue damage compared with the wild type control, but BnMAM1 or BnCYP83A1-overexpressing lines showed no significant difference in comparison to the controls. These results suggest that the resistance to S. sclerotiorum and B. cinerea in B. napus could be enhanced through tailoring the GSL profiles by transgenic approaches or molecular breeding, which provides useful information to assist plant breeders to design improved breeding strategies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Arabidopsis Proteins / biosynthesis*
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / genetics
  • Ascomycota / pathogenicity
  • Botrytis / pathogenicity
  • Brassica napus / genetics
  • Brassica napus / growth & development
  • Brassica napus / microbiology
  • Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / biosynthesis*
  • Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / genetics
  • Disease Resistance / genetics*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
  • Genotype
  • Glucosinolates / metabolism
  • Glucosyltransferases / biosynthesis*
  • Glucosyltransferases / genetics
  • Oxo-Acid-Lyases / biosynthesis*
  • Oxo-Acid-Lyases / genetics
  • Plant Diseases / genetics*
  • Plant Diseases / microbiology
  • Plant Leaves / genetics
  • Plant Leaves / microbiology
  • Plants, Genetically Modified

Substances

  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • Glucosinolates
  • Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System
  • CYP83A1 protein, Arabidopsis
  • Glucosyltransferases
  • UDP-glucose thiohydroximate S-glucosyltransferase UGT74B1, Arabidopsis
  • Oxo-Acid-Lyases
  • methylthioalkylmalate synthase 1

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the China Scholarship Council (http://en.csc.edu.cn/) grant 2010676009 to Y. Zhang, Ministry of Agriculture of China (http://www.kjs.moa.gov.cn/) grant nycytx-00503 to Y. Zhou, the National Science Foundation—Integrative Organismal Systems (http://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?org=IOS) grant 1021861 to DJK, the National Science Foundation—Integrative Organismal Systems (http://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?org=IOS) grant 1339125 to DJK, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (http://nifa.usda.gov/#), Hatch project number CA-D-PLS-7033-H to DJK and by the Danish National Research Foundation (http://dg.dk/en/) (DNRF99) grant to DJK. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.