Overexpression of Three Glucosinolate Biosynthesis Genes in Brassica napus Identifies Enhanced Resistance to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Botrytis cinerea

• Published in: PloS one 2015-10, Vol.10 (10), p.e0140491-e0140491
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yuanyuan, Huai, Dongxin, Yang, Qingyong, Cheng, Yan, Ma, Ming, Kliebenstein, Daniel J, Zhou, Yongming
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aliphatic compounds; Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis Proteins - biosynthesis; Arabidopsis Proteins - genetics; Arabidopsis thaliana; Ascomycota - pathogenicity; Biodegradation; Biosynthesis; Botrytis; Botrytis - pathogenicity; Botrytis cinerea; Brassica; Brassica napus; Brassica napus - genetics; Brassica napus - growth & development; Brassica napus - microbiology; Brassica rapa; Brassicaceae; Cloning; Crops; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System - biosynthesis; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System - genetics; Degradation; Degradation products; Disease control; Disease Resistance - genetics; Fungi; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genetic engineering; Genotype; Glucosinolates; Glucosinolates - metabolism; Glucosyltransferases - biosynthesis; Glucosyltransferases - genetics; Host range; Inoculation; Kinases; Laboratories; Leaves; Metabolites; Oxo-Acid-Lyases - biosynthesis; Oxo-Acid-Lyases - genetics; Pathogens; Physiology; Plant breeding; Plant Diseases - genetics; Plant Diseases - microbiology; Plant Leaves - genetics; Plant Leaves - microbiology; Plant metabolites; Plant protection; Plant sciences; Plants, Genetically Modified; Sclerotinia sclerotiorum; Secondary metabolites; Seeds; Transgenic plants
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0140491

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Botrytis cinerea are notorious plant pathogenic fungi with an extensive host range including Brassica crops. Glucosinolates (GSLs) are an important group of secondary metabolites characteristic of the Brassicales order, whose degradation products are proving to be increasingly important in plant protection. Enhancing the defense effect of GSL and their associated degradation products is an attractive strategy to strengthen the resistance of plants by transgenic approaches. We generated the lines of Brassica napus with three biosynthesis genes involved in GSL metabolic pathway (BnMAM1, BnCYP83A1 and BnUGT74B1), respectively. We then measured the foliar GSLs of each transgenic lines and inoculated them with S. sclerotiorum and B. cinerea. Compared with the wild type control, over-expressing BnUGT74B1 in B. napus increased the aliphatic and indolic GSL levels by 1.7 and 1.5 folds in leaves respectively; while over-expressing BnMAM1 or BnCYP83A1 resulted in an approximate 1.5-fold higher only in the aliphatic GSL level in leaves. The results of plant inoculation demonstrated that BnUGT74B1-overexpressing lines showed less severe disease symptoms and tissue damage compared with the wild type control, but BnMAM1 or BnCYP83A1-overexpressing lines showed no significant difference in comparison to the controls. These results suggest that the resistance to S. sclerotiorum and B. cinerea in B. napus could be enhanced through tailoring the GSL profiles by transgenic approaches or molecular breeding, which provides useful information to assist plant breeders to design improved breeding strategies.