A naturally occurring SNP modulates thermotolerance divergence among grapevines

作者：Haiyang Chen, Haibo Yu, Ling Yuan, Lingchao Kong, Shenchang Li, Xiongjun Cao, Li Yang, Yi Wang, Ling Lin, Rongrong Guo, Taili Xie, Wei Duan, Zhanwu Dai, Peige Fan, Shaohua Li, Zhenchang Liang, Lijun Wang · 发表于：Nature Communications · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1038/s41467-025-60209-2 · 被引用次数：13 · 研究领域：Horticultural and Viticultural Research、Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics、Plant pathogens and resistance mechanisms

With the increasing challenges posed by global warming and climate change, heat stress has become a significant threat to the sustainable production of grapevines. However, the genetic basis of grapevine thermotolerance remains poorly understood. Here, we combine genome-wide association study with transcriptomic profiling to identify TTC4 (thermotolerance on chromosome 4), a gene encoding a WRKY transcription factor, as a key determinant of thermotolerance in grapevine. TTC4 directly activates two thermotolerance-related genes, HSP18.1 and APX3. We also identify a heat-suppressed repressor SPL13 (SQUAMOSA-promoter binding protein-like 13) that cannot bind to the GTAT element (TTC4T(7631)) in intron 2 of TTC4, but can bind to the natural variant, GTAC (TTC4C(7631)). Grapevine accessions with TTC4C/C(7631) genotype exhibit significantly lower thermotolerance compared to those with the TTC4T/T(7631) and TTC4C/T(7631) genotypes. This fine-tuned regulation contributes to thermotolerance divergence among grapevine populations. The TTC4T(7631) haplotype holds significant potential as a genetic resource for breeding thermotolerant grapevine varieties. The genetic basis of grapevine thermotolerance remains poorly understood. Here, the authors identify WRKY transcription factor TTC4 as a positive regulator of thermotolerance and reveal its possible upstream repressor SPL13 and downstream target genes HSP18.1 and APX3.