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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Insect Control and Cotton Disease Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #400539
Research Project: Molecular and Genetic Approaches to Manage Cotton and Sorghum Diseases

Location: Insect Control and Cotton Disease Research

Title: Blocking gossypol pathway in cotton negatively impact resistance to seedling disease pathogens

Author
item WAGNER, TANYA - Texas A&M University
item Bell, Alois - Al
item MAGILL, CLINT - Texas A&M University
item Liu, Jinggao

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/20/2023
Publication Date: 1/27/2023
Citation: Wagner, T.A., Bell, A.A., Magill, C., Liu, J. 2023. Blocking gossypol pathway in cotton negatively impact resistance to seedling disease pathogens. In: Proceedings of the National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conferences, January 8-10, 2023, Austin, Texas. 2023:468.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Cotton plants produces two classes of defense terpenoid compounds through the respective gossypol pathway and lacinilene pathway. Previous studies showed that blocking the gossypol pathway by RNAi resulted in the increased resistance to the Fusarium and Verticillium wilt pathogens. The increased resistance to the Fusarium wilt pathogens is associated with the greatly increased production of lacinilene pathway terpenoids upon infection by the pathogens. In this study, we showed that suppressing the gossypol pathway in cotton negatively impacted resistance to the necrotrophic seedling disease pathogens. Significantly greater percentages of the RNAi plants than the wild type sibling plants developed stem necrosis and root rotting when grown in unpasteurized soils. In seedling disease assays with the Rhizoctonia solani, the RNAi plants developed significantly greater seedling disease symptoms than the wild type sibling plants did. Understanding the mechanisms governing the plant defense responses to the wilt and seedling disease pathogens will facilitate development of cotton plants resistant to both wilt and seedling disease pathogens.