biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 2016, 60:724-730 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-016-0629-z

Cytochrome P₄₅₀, CYP93A1, as defense marker in soybean

A. J. Kinzler¹, Z. A. Prokopiak¹, M. M. Vaughan², P. W. Erhardt³, J. G. Sarver³, J. A. Trendel³, Z. Zhang³, N. J. Dafoe^1,*

¹ Department of Biology, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, USA

² National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, USDA, Peoria, USA

³ Center for Drug Design and Development, University of Toledo, 2801 Toledo, USA

Cytochrome P₄₅₀, CYP93A1, is involved in the synthesis of the phytoalexin glyceollin in soybean (Glycine max L. Merr). The gene encoding CYP93A1 has been used as defense marker in soybean cell cultures, however, little is known regarding how this gene is expressed in the intact plant. To further understand the tissue-specific role of CYP93A1 in soybean defense, we analyzed the expression of this gene in mechanically damaged leaves and stems. In leaves, CYP93A1 was constitutively expressed; its expression did not change in response to mechanical damage. In stems, however, expression of CYP93A1 was induced as quickly as 4 h after mechanical damage and remained upregulated for at least 48 h. The induction of CYP93A1 was associated with the synthesis of glyceollins. In comparison to several other defense-related genes encoding cysteine protease inhibitors L1 and R1 and storage proteins vspA and vspB, CYP93A1 was the most strongly induced by stem wounding. The induction of CYP93A1 was observed only locally, not systemically. Similar stem expression patterns were consistently observed among three different soybean genotypes. The strong induction of CYP93A1 in mechanically damaged stems suggests an important role in the soybean stem defense response; therefore, this study expands the use of CYP93A1 as a defense response marker to stems, not just soybean cell cultures.

Keywords: cysteine protease inhibitors; glyceollin; jasmonic acid; mechanical damage; storage proteins

Subjects: cytochrome; phytoalexin; cysteine protease; jasmonic acid; mechanical damage; gene expression; soybean

Species: Glycine max

Received: July 27, 2015; Revised: February 17, 2016; Accepted: February 22, 2016; Published: December 1, 2016Show citation