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ERF5 and ERF6 Play Redundant Roles as Positive Regulators of JA/Et-Mediated Defense against Botrytis cinerea in Arabidopsis

Moffat, Caroline S; Ingle, Robert A; Wathugala, Deepthi L; Saunders, Nigel J; Knight, Heather; Knight, Marc R

ERF5 and ERF6 Play Redundant Roles as Positive Regulators of JA/Et-Mediated Defense against Botrytis cinerea in Arabidopsis Thumbnail


Authors

Caroline S Moffat

Robert A Ingle

Deepthi L Wathugala

Nigel J Saunders

Marc R Knight



Contributors

Abstract

The ethylene response factor (ERF) family in Arabidopsis thaliana comprises 122 members in 12 groups, yet the biological functions of the majority remain unknown. Of the group IX ERFs, the IXc subgroup has been studied the most, and includes ERF1, ERF14 and ORA59, which play roles in plant innate immunity. Here we investigate the biological functions of two members of the less studied IXb subgroup: ERF5 and ERF6. In order to identify potential targets of these transcription factors, microarray analyses were performed on plants constitutively expressing either ERF5 or ERF6. Expression of defense genes, JA/Et-responsive genes and genes containing the GCC box promoter motif were significantly upregulated in both ERF5 and ERF6 transgenic plants, suggesting that ERF5 and ERF6 may act as positive regulators of JA-mediated defense and potentially overlap in their function. Since defense against necrotrophic pathogens is generally mediated through JA/Et-signalling, resistance against the fungal necrotroph Botrytis cinerea was examined. Constitutive expression of ERF5 or ERF6 resulted in significantly increased resistance. Although no significant difference in susceptibility to B. cinerea was observed in either erf5 or erf6 mutants, the erf5 erf6 double mutant showed a significant increase in susceptibility, which was likely due to compromised JA-mediated gene expression, since JA-induced gene expression was reduced in the double mutant. Taken together these data suggest that ERF5 and ERF6 play positive but redundant roles in defense against B. cinerea. Since mutual antagonism between JA/Et and salicylic acid (SA) signalling is well known, the UV-C inducibility of an SA-inducible gene, PR-1, was examined. Reduced inducibilty in both ERF5 and ERF6 constitutive overexepressors was consistent with suppression of SA-mediated signalling, as was an increased susceptibility to avirulent Pseudomonas syringae. These data suggest that ERF5 and ERF6 may also play a role in the antagonistic crosstalk between the JA/Et and SA signalling pathways.

Citation

Moffat, C. S., Ingle, R. A., Wathugala, D. L., Saunders, N. J., Knight, H., & Knight, M. R. (2012). ERF5 and ERF6 Play Redundant Roles as Positive Regulators of JA/Et-Mediated Defense against Botrytis cinerea in Arabidopsis. PLoS ONE, 7(4), Article e35995. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035995

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Apr 26, 2012
Deposit Date Mar 29, 2012
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal PLoS ONE
Publisher Public Library of Science
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 7
Issue 4
Article Number e35995
DOI https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035995

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Copyright Statement
Copyright: © 2012 Moffat et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.





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