Recently, the vegetable disease prevention and control innovation team of the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences found that MiCTL1a, a lectin effector protein secreted by the parasitic process of southern root-knot nematodes, regulates intracellular reactive oxygen species homeostasis and helps the molecular mechanism of nematode parasitism by interacting with host catalase. The findings were published online in The New Phytologist.
According to researcher Xie Bingyan, root-knot nematodes are a class of obligate living trophic parasites with a wide range of hosts and a wide variety of species, and are one of the most harmful diseases in agricultural production. The control of root-knot nematodes includes physical control, biological control and chemical control, but there are drawbacks such as slow effect, low economic benefit, poor control effect and environmental pollution in field application. Planting disease-resistant varieties is the key to solving the problem, but the lack of resistance genes, commercially used disease resistance genes are not tolerant to high temperatures, the disease resistance mechanism is not thorough, and the emergence of toxic groups restrict the development and application of molecular breeding technology. Therefore, analyzing the molecular mechanism of interaction between root-knot nematodes and the host, and elucidating the pathogenesis mechanism of root-knot nematodes, can provide an important theoretical basis for finding new targets for controlling root-knot nematodes and formulating new strategies.
It was found that MiCTL1, a lectin-like effector protein of southern root-knot nematodes, is expressed in the subabdominal esophageal glands and secreted into plant tissues during parasitic processes. Virus-mediated silencing of the MiCTL1 gene reduces the infestation capacity of southern root-knot nematodes, while plant ectopic expression of MiCTL1 not only increases sensitivity to southern root-knot nematodes, but also promotes root growth. Through interoperation screening, miCTL1a interacts with catalase, which is involved in regulating the steady state of H2O2. MiCTL1a inhibits catalase activity in vivo and in vitro, and regulates the expression of stress-related genes in plants. This study enriches the understanding of the function of effector proteins of root-knot nematodes, and provides an important theoretical basis for resolving the molecular basis of interaction between root-knot nematodes and hosts.
It is understood that the research has been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Science and Technology Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Source: Guangming Network