Results show virus‐induced gene silencing reduces Gossypium resistance to Verticillium dahliae, suggesting suberin deposition is critical for defense.
Summary Verticillium wilt, caused by Verticillium dahliae , is a serious vascular wilt disease in cotton ( Gossypium spp.). However, the roles and mechanisms of cotton gland formation ( CGF ) genes in regulating cotton V. dahliae resistance remain elusive. Virus‐induced gene silencing or CRISPR‐/Cas9‐mediated knockdown or knockout of GbCGF2 / 3 decreases cotton resistance to Verticillium wilt. RNA‐sequencing (RNA‐seq) shows lower transcript levels of the suberin biosynthetic gene fatty acyl‐coenzyme A reductase 3.1 ( FAR3.1 ) in GbCGF2 / 3‐ silenced cotton plants. Silencing or knocking out GbFAR3.1 impairs cotton resistance to V. dahliae and decreases suberin compositional monomer fatty acids (C16–C24) contents. GbCGF2/3 positively regulates GbFAR3.1 expression by binding to its promoter. Suberin deposition in the lamellae layer of the root cell wall decreases significantly in GbCGF2 / 3 Cas9‐mediated knockout and GbFAR3.1‐ silenced cotton plants. Additionally, the expression of gossypol biosynthetic genes and defense‐related genes PDF1.2 and PR4 in the phytohormone jasmonic acid (JA) pathway is also downregulated in GbCGF2 / 3 ‐silenced or Cas9‐mediated knockout plants. In conclusion, GbCGF2/3 positively regulates Verticillium wilt resistance through promoting suberin biosynthesis, gossypol accumulation and expression of JA signaling defense‐related genes, providing a novel insight and strategy for breeding cotton cultivars resistant to Verticillium wilt.
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Yi et al. (2025) studied this question.
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