title: Arabidopsis VQ motif-containing proteins VQ12 and VQ29 negatively modulate basal defense against Botrytis cinerea.
abstract: Arabidopsis VQ motif-containing proteins have recently been demonstrated to interact with several WRKY transcription factors; however, their specific biological functions and the molecular mechanisms underlying their involvement in defense responses remain largely unclear. Here, we showed that two VQ genes, VQ12 and VQ29, were highly responsive to the necrotrophic fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea. To characterize their roles in plant defense, we generated amiR-vq12 transgenic plants by using an artificial miRNA approach to suppress the expression of VQ12, and isolated a loss-of-function mutant of VQ29. Phenotypic analysis showed that decreasing the expression of VQ12 and VQ29 simultaneously rendered the amiR-vq12 vq29 double mutant plants resistant against B. cinerea. Consistently, the B. cinerea-induced expression of defense-related PLANT DEFENSIN1.2 (PDF1.2) was increased in amiR-vq12 vq29. In contrast, constitutively-expressing VQ12 or VQ29 confered transgenic plants susceptible to B. cinerea. Further investigation revealed that VQ12 and VQ29 physically interacted with themselves and each other to form homodimers and heterodimer. Moreover, expression analysis of VQ12 and VQ29 in defense-signaling mutants suggested that they were partially involved in jasmonate (JA)-signaling pathway. Taken together, our study indicates that VQ12 and VQ29 negatively regulate plant basal resistance against B. cinerea.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Houping
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China.
authors.forename: Yanru
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Jinjing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China.
authors.forename: Diqiu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020171:Botrytis / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D003517:Cyclopentanes / Q000378:metabolism; D023082:Defensins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D060467:Disease Resistance / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D054883:Oxylipins / Q000378:metabolism; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D003517:Cyclopentanes; D023082:Defensins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D054883:Oxylipins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; C487542:At5g44420 protein, Arabidopsis; C000609856:VQ12 protein, Arabidopsis; C000609857:VQ29 protein, Arabidopsis; C011006:jasmonic acid