JrPHL8-JrWRKY4-JrSTH2L module regulates resistance to Colletotrichum gloeosporioides in walnut

Abstract

Walnut anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides) reduces walnut yield and quality and seriously threatens the healthy development of the walnut industry. WRKY transcription factors (TFs) are crucial regulatory factors involved in plant-pathogen interactions. Our previous transcriptome analysis results indicate that JrWRKY4 responds to infection by C. gloeosporioides, but its specific regulatory network and disease resistance mechanism are still unclear. Herein, the characteristics of JrWRKY4 as a transcription activator located in the nucleus were first identified. Gain-of-function and loss-of-function analyses showed that JrWRKY4 could enhance walnut resistance against C. gloeosporioides. A series of molecular experiments showed that JrWRKY4 directly interacted with the promoter region of JrSTH2L and positively regulated its expression. In addition, JrWRKY4 interacted with JrVQ4 to form the protein complex, which inhibited JrWRKY4 for the activation of JrSTH2L. Notably, a MYB TF JrPHL8 interacting with the JrWRKY4 promoter has also been identified, which directly bound to the MBS element in the promoter of JrWRKY4 and induced its activity. Our study elucidated a novel mechanism of the JrPHL8-JrWRKY4-JrSTH2L in regulating walnut resistance to anthracnose. This mechanism improves our understanding of the molecular mechanism of WRKY TF mediated resistance to anthracnose in walnut, which provides new insights for molecular breeding of disease-resistant walnuts in the future.

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32371919), the Improved Variety Program of Shandong Province of China (2020LZGC090102), and the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2022QC031).

Author contributions

H.F. and K.Q.Y. planed and directed the experiments. Y.M. and Y.D. performed the experiments and wrote the original manuscript. X.L., A.G., H.Y., C.W., J.L., and Q.L. analysed data and created diagrams. H.F. and K.Q.Y. modified and polished the manuscript.

Data availability

The authors confirm that all data from this study are available and can be found in this article and in the supplemental information.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.

Supplementary data

Supplementary data is available at Horticulture Research online.

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