GmMKK4 ‐activated GmMPK6 stimulates GmERF113 to trigger resistance to Phytophthora sojae in soybean

作者：Hong Gao, Liangyu Jiang, Banghan Du, Bin Ning, Xiaodong Ding, Chuanzhong Zhang, Bo Song, Shanshan Liu, Ming Zhao, Yuxin Zhao, Tianyu Rong, Dongxue Liu, Junjiang Wu, Pengfei Xu, Shuzhen Zhang · 发表于：The Plant Journal · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1111/tpj.15809 · 被引用次数：42 · 研究领域：Plant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity、Plant Molecular Biology Research、Plant Pathogens and Resistance

Phytophthora root and stem rot is a worldwide soybean (Glycine max) disease caused by the soil-borne pathogen Phytophthora sojae. This disease is devastating to soybean production, so improvement of resistance to P. sojae is a major target in soybean breeding. Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are important signaling modules that convert environmental stimuli into cellular responses. Compared with extensive studies in Arabidopsis, the molecular mechanism of MAPK cascades in soybean disease resistance is barely elucidated. In this work, we found that the gene expression of mitogen-activated protein kinase 6 (GmMPK6) was potently induced by P. sojae infection in the disease-resistant soybean cultivar 'Suinong 10'. Overexpression of GmMPK6 in soybean resulted in enhanced resistance to P. sojae and silencing of GmMPK6 led to the opposite phenotype. In our attempt to dissect the role of GmMPK6 in soybean resistance to phytophthora disease, we found that MAPK kinase 4 (GmMKK4) and the ERF transcription factor GmERF113 physically interact with GmMPK6, and we determined that GmMKK4 could phosphorylate and activate GmMPK6, which could subsequently phosphorylate GmERF113 upon P. sojae infection, suggesting that P. sojae can stimulate the GmMKK4-GmMPK6-GmERF113 signaling pathway in soybean. Moreover, phosphorylation of GmERF113 by the GmMKK4-GmMPK6 module promoted GmERF113 stability, nuclear localization and transcriptional activity, which significantly enhanced expressio...