J Integr Plant Biol.

• Research Article •    

Regulation of maize growth and immunity by ZmSKI3-mediated RNA decay and post-transcriptional gene silencing

Jie Gao1, Na Zhang1, Guohui Liu1, Jinjun Tian1, Mengyao Chen1, Ying Wang1, Ye Xing1, Ying Zhang1, Chenyang Zhao1, Xiaohuan Mu1,2, Yanwen Yu1,2, Hongbin Niu1, Jiankun Li1,2*, Jihua Tang1,2* and Mingyue Gou1,2*   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Collaborative Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops, College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China
    2. The Shennong Laboratory, Zhengzhou 450002, China
    *Correspondence Jiankun Li; (jiankun2018@henau.edu.cn); Jihua Tang (tangjihua@henau.edu.cn); Mingyue Gou mingyuegou@henau.edu.cn, Dr. Gou is fully responsible for the distributions of all materials associated with this article)
  • Received:2024-02-22 Accepted:2024-09-01 Online:2024-10-03
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by grants from National Key Research and Development program (2022YFD1201801 to M.G.), National Natural Science Foundation of China (U2004207, 32372208 to M.G. 32372179 to J.L.), Henan Province Major Science and Technology Project (221100110300, to J.T.), Distinguished Young Scholars in Henan (212300410007, to MG), Henan Province Joint Fund for Science and Technology Research (222103810003 to J.L. 232103810004 to Y.Y.).

Abstract: Disease resistance is often associated with compromised plant growth and yield due to defense-growth tradeoffs. However, key components and mechanisms underlying the defense-growth tradeoffs are rarely explored in maize. In this study, we find that ZmSKI3, a putative subunit of the SUPERKILLER (SKI) complex that mediates the 3′-5′ degradation of RNA, regulates both plant development and disease resistance in maize. The Zmski3 mutants showed retarded plant growth and constitutively activated defense responses, while the ZmSKI3 overexpression lines are more susceptible to Curvularia lunata and Bipolaris maydis. Consistently, the expression of defense-related genes was generally up-regulated, while expressions of growth-related genes were mostly down-regulated in leaves of the Zmski3-1 mutant compared to that of wild type. In addition, 223 differentially expressed genes that are up-regulated in Zmski3-1 mutant but down-regulated in the ZmSKI3 overexpression line are identified as potential target genes of ZmSKI3. Moreover, small interfering RNAs targeting the transcripts of the defense- and growth-related genes are differentially accumulated, likely to combat the increase of defense-related transcripts but decrease of growth-related transcripts in Zmski3-1 mutant. Taken together, our study indicates that plant growth and immunity could be regulated by both ZmSKI3-mediated RNA decay and post-transcriptional gene silencing in maize.

Key words: defense‐growth tradeoffs, disease resistance, maize, plant growth, PTGS, RNA decay, ZmSKI3

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