Project description:Apple leaf spot caused by the Alternaria alternata f. sp. mali (ALT1) fungus is one of the most devastating diseases of apple (Malus × domestica). We identified a hairpin RNA (hpRNA)-mediated small RNAs, MdhpRNA277, from apple (cv. ‘Golden Delicious’) that is induced by infection with ALT1. MdhpRNA277 produces mdm-siR277-1 and mdm-siR277-2, which target five R genes, MdRNL1, MdRNL2, MdRNL3, MdRNL4, and MdRNL5, that are expressed at high levels in the resistant apple variety ‘Hanfu’ and at low levels in the susceptible variety ‘Golden Delicious’ following ALT1 infection. MdhpRNA277 is strongly induced in ‘Golden Delicious’ but was not induced in ‘Hanfu’ following ALT1 inoculation. The promoter activity of MdhpRNA277 was much stronger in ‘Golden Delicious’ than in ‘Hanfu’ after ALT1 inoculation. We identified a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the MdhpRNA277 promoter region between the susceptible variety ‘Golden Delicious’ (pMdhpRNA277-GD) and resistant variety ‘Hanfu’ (pMdhpRNA277-HF). The transcription factor MdWHy binds to pMdhpRNA277-GD, but not to pMdhpRNA277-HF. Transgenic ‘GL-3’ apple lines expressing pMdhpRNA277-GD: MdhpRNA277 were more susceptible to ALT1 infection than were those expressing pMdhpRNA277-HF:MdhpRNA277 due to induced mdm-siR277 accumulation and low levels of expression of the five target R genes. The failure of MdWHy to bind to pMdhpRNA277-HF might contribute to the low levels of MdhpRNA277 and mdm-siR277-1/-2 expression and the high levels of R gene expression and resistance to Alternaria leaf spot in resistant apple varieties. We confirmed that the SNP in pMdhpRNA277 is associated with Alternaria leaf spot resistance by analyzing the progeny of three additional crosses. The SNP identified in this study could be used as a marker to distinguish between apple varieties that are resistant or susceptible to Alternaria leaf spot.
Project description:Background: Maize plants developed typical gray leaf spot disease (GLS) symptoms initiating at the lower leaves and progressing to upper leaves through the season. Leaf material was collected at 77 days after planting, at which stage there were a large number of GLS disease necrotic lesions on lower leaves (8% surface area on average determined by digital image analysis), but very few lesions and only at chlorotic stage on leaves above the ear (average of 0.2% lesion surface area). Method:To collect material that reflected a difference between C.zeina infected B73 leaves and control B73 leaf material, samples were collected from two lower GLS infected leaves (second and third leaf internode below ear) , and two upper leaves with minimal GLS symptoms (second and third internode above ear), respectively. The two lower leaves from each plant were pooled prior to RNA extraction, and the two upper leaves from each plant were pooled prior to RNA extraction. Upper and lower leaf samples from three maize B73 plants were subjected to RNA sequencing individually. The three maize plants were selected randomly as one plant per row from three rows of ten B73 plants each. Result: A systems genetics strategy revealed regions on the maize genome underlying co-expression of genes in susceptible and resistance responses, including a set of 100 genes common to the susceptible response of sub-tropical and temperate maize.
