Characterization of Plant Defensin (<i>PDF</i>) Genes in Banana (<i>Musa acuminata</i>) Reveals the Antifungal Ability of MaPDF2.2 to Fusarium Wilt Pathogens

Characterization of Plant Defensin (<i>PDF</i>) Genes in Banana (<i>Musa acuminata</i>) Reveals the Antifungal Ability of MaPDF2.2 to Fusarium Wilt Pathogens

Plant defensin (PDF/DEF), an important pathogenesis-related protein which widely exists in plants, displays broad-spectrum antifungal activities. To date, however, reports on the banana PDFs are very limited. In this study, we identified, cloned, and characterized the five Class I <i>PDFs</...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ruide Li, Bin Wang, Huan Wu, Chunzhen Cheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-05-01
Series:Horticulturae
Subjects:
plant defensin
banana Fusarium wilt
gene expression analysis
prokaryotic expression
antifungal ability
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/11/5/513
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Summary:Plant defensin (PDF/DEF), an important pathogenesis-related protein which widely exists in plants, displays broad-spectrum antifungal activities. To date, however, reports on the banana PDFs are very limited. In this study, we identified, cloned, and characterized the five Class I <i>PDFs</i> (<i>MaPDF2.1~MaPDF2.5</i>) in banana (<i>Musa acuminata</i>). Further, their expression in root, corm, leaf, and fruit were studied. <i>MaPDFs</i> exhibited quite different expression patterns in different organs, with <i>MaPDF2.2</i> as the only member expressing in all the tested organs, and its expression levels in all organs were the highest among all <i>MaPDFs</i>. The <i>MaPDF2.2</i> expression could be significantly upregulated by both low- and high-temperature stresses but significantly downregulated by the inoculations of plant growth promoting endophytic fungus <i>Serendipita indica</i> and banana Fusarium wilt (FW) pathogen <i>Fusarium oxysporum</i> f. sp. <i>cubense</i> (<i>Foc</i>) Tropical race 4 (<i>Foc</i>TR4). Moreover, the <i>S. indica</i> pre-colonization could significantly alleviate the suppression of <i>Foc</i>TR4 on <i>MaPDF2.2</i>, suggesting that this <i>MaPDF</i> might contribute greatly to the <i>S. indica</i>-enhanced FW resistance. By using tobacco leaf transient overexpression, the function of <i>MaPDF2.2</i> was investigated. Its overexpression significantly inhibited the infection of <i>Foc</i> race 1 (<i>Foc</i>1) and <i>Foc</i>TR4 in tobacco leaves. Furthermore, in vitro antifungal ability assays revealed that the recombinant His-MaPDF2.2 protein could significantly inhibit the growth of <i>Foc</i>1 and <i>Foc</i>TR4, as well as the pigment accumulation of <i>Foc</i>1. Our study revealed the sequence and expression characteristics of banana <i>PDFs</i> and demonstrated the antifungal ability of MaPDF2.2 to FW pathogens.
ISSN:2311-7524

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