The TvPirin Gene Is Necessary for Haustorium Development in the Parasitic Plant Triphysaria versicolor        

Abstract

The rhizosphere is teemed with organisms that coordinate their symbioses using chemical signals traversing between the host root and symbionts. Chemical signals also mediate interactions between roots of different plants, perhaps the most obvious being those between parasitic Orobanchaceae and their plant hosts. Parasitic plants use specific molecules provided by host roots to initiate the development of haustoria, invasive structures critical for plant parasitism. We took a transcriptomics approach to identify parasitic plant genes associated with host factor recognition and haustorium signaling and previously identified a gene, TvPirin, which is transcriptionally up-regulated in roots of the parasitic plant Triphysaria versicolor after being exposed to the haustorium-inducing molecule 2,6-dimethoxybenzoquinone (DMBQ). Because TvPirin shares homology with proteins associated with environmental signaling in some plants, we hypothesized that TvPirin may function in host factor recognition in parasitic plants. We tested the function of TvPirin in T. versicolor roots using hairpin-mediated RNA interference. Reducing TvPirin transcripts in T. versicolor roots resulted in significantly less haustoria development in response to DMBQ exposure. We determined the transcript levels of other root expressed transcripts and found that several had reduced basal levels of gene expression but were similarly regulated by quinone exposure. Phylogenic investigations showed that TvPirin homologs are present in most flowering plants, and we found no evidence of parasite-specific gene duplication or expansion. We propose that TvPirin is a generalized transcription factor associated with the expression of a number of genes, some of which are involved in haustorium development.

Local Auxin Biosynthesis Mediated by a YUCCA Flavin Monooxygenase Regulates Haustorium Development in the Parasitic Plant Phtheirospermum japonicum

“…Local Auxin Biosynthesis Regulates Plant Parasitismin T. versicolor (Bandaranayake et al, 2012;Matvienko et al, 2001b), confirming the conservation of gene expression profiles among different Orobanchaceae species. Interestingly, the closest homolog of Tv-QR1, which functions in haustorium formation in T. versicolor, was not induced by DMBQ in P. japonicum (Supplemental Figure 8).…”

“…A single electron-transferring quinone-reductase enzyme in T. versicolor (QR1) was found to play an important role in haustorium induction probably, via catalyzing the reduction of DMBQ-related quinones (Bandaranayake et al, 2010). In addition, Pirin, a nuclear protein associated with transcription factor activity, was reported to play regulatory roles in haustorium formation in T. versicolor (Bandaranayake et al, 2012). Accumulating information about the genes expressed in the parasitic Orobanchaceae, including ESTs of S. hermonthica (Yoshida et al, 2010), Phelipanche aegyptiaca, and T. versicolor (http://ppgp.huck.psu.edu/) (Yang et al, 2014;Torres et al, 2005), has contributed to our knowledge of the molecular basis of plant parasitism.…”

New Insights into Phloem Unloading and Expression of Sucrose Transporters in Vegetative Sinks of the Parasitic Plant Phelipanche ramosa L. (Pomel)

“…Reverse genetics in parasitic plants is effective only in few chlorophyllous parasitic plants to date (Ishida et al, 2011, 2016; Bandaranayake et al, 2012). These plants are indeed able to develop without a host, which facilitates the production of transgenic lines.…”

“…Fernandez-Aparicio et al (2011) have described an efficient method for transforming P. aegyptiaca calli and providing transgenic seedlings by inoculating the roots of a host plant with infectious transgenic calli. Otherwise, the efficiency of trans-silencing strategies based on the genetic transformation of the host plant for producing silencing signals which are targeted against a parasite's gene and then transferred to the parasite thanks to haustorial connections, was demonstrated in some host-parasite interactions (Tomilov et al, 2008; Alakonya et al, 2012; Bandaranayake et al, 2012; Bandaranayake and Yoder, 2013), implying notably Phelipanche species (Aly et al, 2009, 2011). Then trans-silencing strategies in addition to reverse genetics and likely gene editing should be conceivable for P .…”

PIRIN2 stabilizes cysteine proteaseXCP2 and increases susceptibility to the vascular pathogenRalstonia solanacearumin Arabidopsis

“…However, Arabidopsis PRN1 is involved in blue light and ABA responses, seed germination and early seedling development (Lapik and Kaufman, 2003; Warpeha et al ., 2007). TvPirin , a PRN gene in the parasitic plant Triphysaria versicolor , is transcriptionally up-regulated in roots after being exposed to the haustorium-inducing substance 2,6-dimethoxybenzoquinone (Bandaranayake et al ., 2012). Transcription levels of Le-pirin , a tomato homolog of human PRN , dramatically increase during camptothecin-induced programmed cell death (PCD) (Orzaez et al ., 2001) and, in barley, the transcription level of a PRN is reportedly induced by pathogen-derived trichothecenes (Boddu et al ., 2007) that can induce cell death in plants (Nishiuchi et al ., 2006; Boddu et al ., 2007).…”