LaMYC7, a positive regulator of linalool and caryophyllene biosynthesis, confers plant resistance to Pseudomonas syringae

Abstract

Linalool and caryophyllene are the main monoterpene and sesquiterpene compounds in lavender; however, the genes regulating their biosynthesis still remain many unknowns. Here, we identified LaMYC7, a positive regulator of linalool and caryophyllene biosynthesis, confers plant resistance to Pseudomonas syringae. LaMYC7 was highly expressed in glandular trichomes, and LaMYC7 overexpression could significantly increase the linalool and caryophyllene contents and reduce susceptibility to P. syringae in Nicotiana. In addition, the linalool possessed antimicrobial activity against P. syringae growth and acted dose-dependently. Further analysis demonstrated that LaMYC7 directly bound to the promoter region of LaTPS76, which encodes the terpene synthase (TPS) for caryophyllene biosynthesis, and that LaTPS76 was highly expressed in glandular trichomes. Notably, the LaMYC7 promoter contained hormone and stress-responsive regulatory elements and responded to various treatments, including ultraviolet, low temperature, salt, drought, methyl jasmonate, and P. syringae infection treatments. Under these treatments, the changes in the linalool and caryophyllene contents were similar to those in LaMYC7 transcript abundance. Based on the results, LaMYC7 could respond to P. syringae infection in addition to being involved in linalool and caryophyllene biosynthesis. Thus, the MYC transcription factor gene LaMYC7 can be used in the breeding of high-yielding linalool and caryophyllene lavender varieties with pathogen resistance.

Acknowledgements

We appreciate the support from Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, especially the pCAMBIA2300 and pLacZi vectors provided by Zhenchang Liang and Guozheng Qin, as well as the help of volatile terpenoid analysis by Yan Zhu; We appreciate the Wenxiang Yang (Department of Plant Pathology, Agricultural University of Hebei) for providing P. syringae pv. tomato (Pst) DC3000. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 32300331 and 32270411), International Partnership Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant 063GJHZ2022038GC) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant XDA23080603).

Author contributions

L.S., H.L., and Y.M.D. conceived and designed the work. Y.M.D., J.R.L., H.L., M.X.H., H.T.B., and W.Y.Z. prepared the materials. Y.M.D. and W.Y.Z. performed the experiments. Y.M.D. and Z.L.W. analyzed data and prepared results. Y.M.D. wrote and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final draft.

Data availability statement

The raw genome and transcriptome sequencing data reported in this paper have been deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database under project number PRJNA642976. And the data and materials in the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Conflict of interests

No conflict of interest declared.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data is available at Horticulture Research online.

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