Phytopathology (2016) 106, 614-623

Dong-Yun Zuo, Shu-yuan Yi, Rong-Jing Liu, Bo Qu, Tao Huang, Wei-Jie He, Cheng Li, He-Ping Li and Yu-Cai Liao (2016)
A deoxynivalenol-activated methionyl-tRNA synthetase gene from wheat encodes a nuclear localized protein and protects plants against Fusarium pathogens and mycotoxins
Phytopathology 106 (6), 614-623
Abstract: Fusarium graminearum is the fungal pathogen that causes globally important diseases of cereals and produces mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON). Owing to the dearth of available sources of resistance to Fusarium pathogens, characterization of novel genes that confer resistance to mycotoxins and mycotoxin-producing fungi is vitally important for breeding resistant crop varieties. In this study, a wheat methionyl-tRNA synthetase (TaMetRS) gene was identified from suspension cell cultures treated with DON. It shares conserved aminoacylation catalytic and tRNA anticodon binding domains with human MetRS and with the only previously characterized plant MetRS, suggesting that it functions in aminoacylation in the cytoplasm. However, the TaMetRS comprises a typical nuclear localization signal and cellular localization studies with a TaMetRS::GFP fusion protein showed that TaMetRS is localized in the nucleus. Expression of TaMetRS was activated by DON treatment and by infection with a DON-producing F. graminearum strain in wheat spikes. No such activation was observed following infection with a non-DON-producing F. graminearum strain. Expression of TaMetRS in Arabidopsis plants conferred significant resistance to DON and F. graminearum. These results indicated that this DON-activated TaMetRS gene may encode a novel type of MetRS in plants that has a role in defense and detoxification.
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Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Yu-Cai Liao

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
control - general
molecular biology - genes

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Fusarium graminearum