Molecular and Functional Characterization of a Polygalacturonase-Inhibiting Protein from Cynanchum komarovii That Confers Fungal Resistance in Arabidopsis

PLoS One. 2016 Jan 11;11(1):e0146959. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0146959. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Compliance with ethical standards: This study did not involve human participants and animals, and the plant of interest is not an endangered species. Polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins (PGIPs) are leucine-rich repeat proteins that plants produce against polygalacturonase, a key virulence agent in pathogens. In this paper, we cloned and purified CkPGIP1, a gene product from Cynanchum komarovii that effectively inhibits polygalacturonases from Botrytis cinerea and Rhizoctonia solani. We found the expression of CkPGIP1 to be induced in response to salicylic acid, wounding, and infection with B. cinerea and R. solani. In addition, transgenic overexpression in Arabidopsis enhanced resistance against B. cinerea. Furthermore, CkPGIP1 obtained from transgenic Arabidopsis inhibited the activity of B. cinerea and R. solani polygalacturonases by 62.7-66.4% and 56.5-60.2%, respectively. Docking studies indicated that the protein interacts strongly with the B1-sheet at the N-terminus of the B. cinerea polygalacturonase, and with the C-terminus of the polygalacturonase from R. solani. This study highlights the significance of CkPGIP1 in plant disease resistance, and its possible application to manage fungal pathogens.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Arabidopsis / microbiology*
  • Botrytis / enzymology
  • Cloning, Molecular
  • Cynanchum / genetics
  • Cynanchum / metabolism*
  • Disease Resistance / genetics
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Inhibitory Concentration 50
  • Molecular Docking Simulation
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phylogeny
  • Plant Diseases / microbiology*
  • Plant Extracts / chemistry*
  • Plant Proteins / genetics
  • Plant Proteins / metabolism*
  • Plants, Genetically Modified
  • Polygalacturonase / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Rhizoctonia / enzymology
  • Salicylic Acid / chemistry
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid

Substances

  • PGIP protein, plant
  • Plant Extracts
  • Plant Proteins
  • Polygalacturonase
  • Salicylic Acid

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Program of National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 31071751) and the Genetically Modified Organism Breeding Major Project (Grant no. 2015ZX08005-002). And YXH received the funding.