Shiming Qi, Yuanbo Shen, Xinyu Wang, Shijie Zhang, Yushun Li, Md. Monirul Islam, Jin Wang, Pan Zhao, Xiangqiang Zhan, Fei Zhang & Yan Liang

Theoretical and Applied Genetics; May 2022; vol. 135: 1493–1509 

Figure: Tomato spotted wilt virus in tomato

Key message

A typical NLR gene, Sl5R-1 , which regulates Tomato spotted wilt virus resistance, was fine mapped to a region less than 145 kb in the tomato genome.

Abstract

Tomato spotted wilt is a viral disease caused by Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), which is a devastating disease that affects tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) production worldwide, and the resistance provided by the Sw-5 gene has broken down in some cases. In order to identify additional genes that confer resistance to TSWV, the F₂ population was mapped using susceptible (M82) and resistant (H149) tomato lines. After 3 years of mapping, the main quantitative trait locus on chromosome 05 was narrowed to a genomic region of 145 kb and was subsequently identified by the F₂ population, with 1971 plants in 2020. This region encompassed 14 candidate genes, and in it was found a gene cluster consisting of three genes (Sl5R-1, Sl5R-2, and Sl5R-3) that code for NBS-LRR proteins. The qRT-PCR and virus-induced gene silencing approach results confirmed that Sl5R-1 is a functional resistance gene for TSWV. Analysis of the Sl5R-1 promoter region revealed that there is a SlTGA9 transcription factor binding site caused by a base deletion in resistant plants, and its expression level was significantly up-regulated in infected resistant plants. Analysis of salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA) levels and the expression of SA- and JA-regulated genes suggest that SlTGA9 interacts or positively regulates Sl5R-1 to affect the SA- and JA-signaling pathways to resist TSWV. These results demonstrate that the identified Sl5R-1 gene regulates TSWV resistance by its own promoter interacting with the transcription factor SlTGA9.

See https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00122-022-04049-4