A novel DCL2-dependent miRNA pathway in tomato affects susceptibility to RNA viruses
- Zhengming Wang1,
- Thomas J. Hardcastle1,
- Alex Canto Pastor1,
- Wing Hin Yip2,
- Shuoya Tang1 and
- David C. Baulcombe1
- 1Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EA, United Kingdom;
- 2Department of Biomedical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Corresponding author: dcb40{at}cam.ac.uk
Abstract
Tomato Dicer-like2 (slDCL2) is a key component of resistance pathways against potato virus X (PVX) and tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). It is also required for production of endogenous small RNAs, including miR6026 and other noncanonical microRNAs (miRNAs). The slDCL2 mRNAs are targets of these slDCL2-dependent RNAs in a feedback loop that was disrupted by target mimic RNAs of miR6026. In lines expressing these RNAs, there was correspondingly enhanced resistance against PVX and TMV. These findings illustrate a novel miRNA pathway in plants and a crop protection strategy in which miRNA target mimicry elevates expression of defense-related mRNAs.
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Footnotes
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Supplemental material is available for this article.
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Article published online ahead of print. Article and publication date are online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.313601.118.
- Received February 26, 2018.
- Accepted June 27, 2018.
This article is distributed exclusively by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for the first six months after the full-issue publication date (see http://genesdev.cshlp.org/site/misc/terms.xhtml). After six months, it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International), as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
