CaARP1/CaSGT1 Module Regulates Vegetative Growth and Defense Response of Pepper Plants against <i>Phytophthora capsici</i>
Xia Li,
Yahong Weng,
Yufeng Chen,
Kaisheng Liu,
Yanyan Liu,
Kan Zhang,
Lanping Shi,
Shuilin He,
Zhiqin Liu
Affiliations
Xia Li
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Genetics, Breeding and Multiple Utilization of Crops, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Yahong Weng
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Genetics, Breeding and Multiple Utilization of Crops, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Yufeng Chen
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Genetics, Breeding and Multiple Utilization of Crops, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Kaisheng Liu
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Genetics, Breeding and Multiple Utilization of Crops, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Yanyan Liu
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Genetics, Breeding and Multiple Utilization of Crops, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Kan Zhang
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Genetics, Breeding and Multiple Utilization of Crops, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Lanping Shi
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Genetics, Breeding and Multiple Utilization of Crops, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Shuilin He
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Genetics, Breeding and Multiple Utilization of Crops, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Zhiqin Liu
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Genetics, Breeding and Multiple Utilization of Crops, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) suffers severe quality and yield loss from oomycete diseases caused by Phytophthora capsici. CaSGT1 was previously determined to positively regulate the immune response of pepper plants against P. capsici, but by which mechanism remains elusive. In the present study, the potential interacting proteins of CaSGT1 were isolated from pepper using a yeast two-hybrid system, among which CaARP1 was determined to interact with CaSGT1 via bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) and microscale thermophoresis (MST) assays. CaARP1 belongs to the auxin-repressed protein family, which is well-known to function in modulating plant growth. The transcriptional and protein levels of CaARP1 were both significantly induced by infection with P. capsici. Silencing of CaARP1 promotes the vegetative growth of pepper plants and attenuates its disease resistance to P. capsici, as well as compromising the hypersensitive response-like cell death in pepper leaves induced by PcINF1, a well-characterized typical PAMP from P. capsici. Chitin-induced transient expression of CaARP1 in pepper leaves enhanced its disease resistance to P. capsici, which is amplified by CaSGT1 co-expression as a positive regulator. Taken together, our result revealed that CaARP1 plays a dual role in the pepper, negatively regulating the vegetative growth and positively regulating plant immunity against P. capsici in a manner associated with CaSGT1.
