Czech J. Genet. Plant Breed., 2025, 61(2):77-85 | DOI: 10.17221/112/2024-CJGPB

Ectopic expression of the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) VuCERK1 gene confers enhanced resistance to Pto DC3000 hrcC- in ArabidopsisOriginal Paper

Weida Chen1,2,*, Lifen Gao3, Gao Chen1, Ting Yang2, Zixin Zhao1, Wenhao Xia1, Niannian Fan1, Siming Chen1
1 Hubei Province Engineering Research Center of Legume Plants, College of Life Science, Jianghan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
2 Hubei Engineering Research Center for Protection and Utilization of Special Biological Resources in the Hanjiang River Basin, School of Life Science, Jianghan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
3 Institute for Systems Biology, Jianghan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China

Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) play multiple roles in plants. As a kind of PRRs, chitin elicitor receptor kinase 1 (CERK1) proteins were reported to function in plant resistance to fungal and bacterial pathogens, and tolerance to salt stress. In this study, a predicted cowpea CERK1 homologous gene, designated as VuCERK1, was identified by database search. VuCERK1 protein contains 618 amino acid residues, with a predicted molecular mass of 67.5 kDa and a predicted isoelectric point of 5.04. VuCERK1 shows 58% and 60% sequence identity with AtCERK1 and OsCERK1, respectively. VuCERK1 also shows similar subcellular pattern with AtCERK1 and OsCERK1, suggesting VuCERK1 may function in cowpea immune responses. Gene expression assay indicated, that VuCERK1 was expressed in four different seedling tissues tested, comprising first leave, epicotyl, hypocotyl and root, and it could be induced by salt stress. Furthermore, transient expression of VuCERK1 in Nicotiana benthamiana induced obvious cell death. In addition, heterologous overexpression of VuCERK1 in Arabidopsis thaliana conferred enhanced disease resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato strain DC3000 hrcC- (Pto DC3000 hrcC-).

Keywords: chitin elicitor receptor kinase 1; cowpea; pattern recognition receptors; Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato strain DC3000 hrcC-

Received: September 11, 2024; Revised: December 13, 2024; Accepted: January 20, 2025; Prepublished online: February 17, 2025; Published: April 15, 2025  Show citation

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Chen W, Gao L, Chen G, Yang T, Zhao Z, Xia W, et al.. Ectopic expression of the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) VuCERK1 gene confers enhanced resistance to Pto DC3000 hrcC- in Arabidopsis. Czech J. Genet. Plant Breed. 2025;61(2):77-85. doi: 10.17221/112/2024-CJGPB.
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