Novel tomato miRNA miR1001 initiates cross-species regulation to suppress the conidiospore germination and infection virulence of Botrytis cinerea in vitro.

This study investigated the regulatory role of novel tomato miRNA miR1001 in the growth and development of Botrytis cinerea. Results showed that miR1001 inhibited the virulence of B. cinerea-infected plants, and the inhibitory effect of miR1001/miR1001* was stronger than that of miR1001. Moreover, miR1001 exerted a significant inhibitory effect on the conidiospore germination of B. cinerea. Degradome-seq experiment showed that miR1001 can directly target the Bcin03g02170.1 and Bcin10g01400.1 genes, which respectively encode the ATP-dependent metallopeptidase and cysteine-type endopeptidase, in B. cinerea. The interactions of both targets with miR1001 were further confirmed by using transient co-expression in tobacco. Real-time RT-PCR analysis showed that the expression levels of the two target genes were significantly downregulated in B. cinerea with miR1001 treatment. Our findings provide new evidence into the coevolution of pathogens and host plants, as well as new directions for the use of plant-derived miRNAs to control pathogens.
PMID: 32726608 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Gene - July 25, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Meng X, Jin W, Wu F Tags: Gene Source Type: research