Identification, Validation and Utilization of Novel Nematode-Responsive Root-Specific Promoters in Arabidopsis for Inducing Host-Delivered RNAi Mediated Root-Knot Nematode Resistance

• Published in: Frontiers in plant science Vol. 8; p. 2049
• Main Authors: Kakrana, Atul, Kumar, Anil, Satheesh, Viswanathan, Abdin, M Z, Subramaniam, Kuppuswamy, Bhattacharya, R C, Srinivasan, Ramamurthy, Sirohi, Anil, Jain, Pradeep K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 12.12.2017
• Subjects: Arabidopsis; HD-RNAi; in silico analysis; nematode-responsive genes; Plant Science; promoter analysis; root-specific genes; in silico analysis; root-specific genes; promoter analysis; Arabidopsis; HD-RNAi; nematode-responsive genes
• ISSN: 1664-462X; 1664-462X
• DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2017.02049

The root-knot nematode (RKN), , is an obligate, sedentary endoparasite that infects a large number of crops and severely affects productivity. The commonly used nematode control strategies have their own limitations. Of late, RNA interference (RNAi) has become a popular approach for the development of nematode resistance in plants. Transgenic crops capable of expressing dsRNAs, specifically in roots for disrupting the parasitic process, offer an effective and efficient means of producing resistant crops. We identified nematode-responsive and root-specific (NRRS) promoters by using microarray data from the public domain and known conserved -elements. A set of 51 NRRS genes was identified which was narrowed down further on the basis of presence of -elements combined with minimal expression in the absence of nematode infection. The comparative analysis of promoters from the enriched NRRS set, along with earlier reported nematode-responsive genes, led to the identification of specific -elements. The promoters of two candidate genes were used to generate transgenic plants harboring promoter GUS constructs and tested against nematodes. Both promoters showed preferential expression upon nematode infection, exclusively in the root in one and galls in the other. One of these NRRS promoters was used to drive the expression of , a nematode-specific gene, for generating host-delivered RNAi-mediated nematode-resistant plants. Transgenic lines expressing dsRNA of under the NRRS promoter exhibited upto a 32% reduction in number of galls compared to control plants.