New Knowledge: New Ideas For The Prevention And Control Of Cotton Verticillium Wilt

Verticillium wilt of cotton is a major disease on cotton, which often leads to yellowing and drying of leaves of diseased plants, more buds and bolls falling, fewer fruit branches, reduced boll weight, and reduced output by 20% - 30%, causing great losses to farmers.

Verticillium dahliae is a kind of soil borne fungal disease, which has a wide range of hosts, harming cotton, tomato, lettuce, pepper and other major cash crops, and causing serious economic losses to agricultural production. Verticillium wilt of cotton caused by Verticillium dahliae is one of the most important threats in cotton production, known as the "cancer" of cotton.

The Pattern Diagram of GhTIRP1 Regulating the Autocorrelation, Autoactivation and Verticillium Wilt Resistance of GhRVD1

Recently, the cotton molecular genetic improvement innovation team of the Cotton Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences carried out research on the identification and mechanism of excellent disease resistance genes in cotton germplasm resources, discovered and analyzed the key gene GhRVD1 for resistance to verticillium wilt and its genetic basis for resistance to verticillium wilt, providing an important target for improving cotton disease resistance by biological breeding, It provides a new idea for the control of cotton verticillium wilt.

Relevant research results were published in Genome Biology.

This study identified an introgression segment from Asian cotton in upland cotton that was significantly related to verticillium wilt resistance. It was found that GhRVD1 gene in this segment was the key gene for resistance to verticillium wilt, and the mutation of this gene at a few nucleotide sites in upland cotton weakened its mediated resistance to verticillium wilt. GhRVD1 gene mediates the rapid immune response of downstream genes by forming a reverse parallel dimer.

In addition, the study also found that GhTIRP1 protein is the interaction protein of GhRVD1 gene, and is an important switch for balancing vegetative growth and immune response in plants. Under normal growth conditions, it competitively combines with GhRVD1 gene to inhibit the formation of dimer, thereby blocking its mediated immune response, and maintaining the normal growth of cotton; Under the invasion condition of Verticillium dahliae, it can relieve the GhRVD1 gene occupation by down-regulation, promote the formation of dimer, and then activate the downstream immune response to resist the invasion of pathogenic bacteria.

The research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program, Henan Provincial Outstanding Youth Fund and other projects.