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Biomedical subjects

Jingmin Kang

Publications and source records attributed to Jingmin Kang.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

Cell-type-specific defense priming and NHP-dependent systemic immunity against Pectobacterium in Chinese cabbage.

Defense priming is an effective strategy for mounting the defensive capacity of plants. Primed plants undergo minimal changes, enabling rapid, robust responses to subsequent pathogen attack. The cell-type-specific mechanisms underlying priming and systemic immunity remain unclear. Using single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq), we reveal how primed Chinese cabbage coordinates N-hydroxypipecolic acid (NHP)-dependent systemic immunity against Pectobacterium carotovorum. NHP accumulates as a phloem-mobile priming signal. snRNA-seq identified a priming-specific epidermal cell state transition and transcriptional cascade: BrWRKY18-1 activates BrWRKY33-1 expression during priming, initiating NHP-dependent systemic immunity. At post-challenge primed state, pathogenesis-related genes (PRs), such as BrPR3, BrPR4-1, and BrPR4-2, are predominantly expressed in systemic tissues to inhibit infection. Notably, the functionality of these PR genes in immunity necessitates their expression in all cells to effectively enhance defensive resistance. This NHP-transcription factor-PR axis couples mobile signaling to systemic immunity, elucidating cell-type-specific defense priming.

Plant Immunity

A SlEIN2-centered epigenetic network equilibrates fruit ripening and innate immunity in tomato.

Ethylene and DNA/RNA methylation serve as essential factors in controlling fruit ripening. In tomato, the mRNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) demethylase SlALKBH2 regulates mRNA stability of the DNA 5-methylcytosine demethylase gene SlDML2 via modulating m6A modifications. However, the interplay between ethylene and these epigenetic marks remains unclear. Here, we show that SlDML2 expression is significantly inhibited in slein2 fruits, but remains unchanged in the high-order sleil mutant (sleil1 sleil2 sleil3/SlEIL3 sleil4 and sleil1 sleil2/SlEIL2 sleil3 sleil4) fruits, indicative of post-transcriptional regulation of SlDML2 expression by SlEIN2, a core ethylene signaling component acting upstream of the master transcription factors SlEILs. Interestingly, SlEIN2 preferentially regulates the asymmetric CHH methylation in promoters of several key ripening regulator genes. Mechanistically, SlEIN2 physically interacts with SlALKBH2, which promotes SlDML2 expression in a SlEIN2-dependent manner. Furthermore, SlAGO4A and SlAGO4B, components of the RNA-directed DNA methylation pathway, were upregulated in slein2 fruits. Silencing SlAGO4A/B in wild-type fruit caused precocious ripening with necrosis, indicative of hyperimmunity. Conversely, SlAGO4A/B silencing in slein2 markedly delayed this hyperimmunity. Taken together, our study reveals that ethylene, beyond transcriptional regulation, employs an elaborate epigenetic machinery mediated by the SlAGO4A/B-SlEIN2-SlALKBH2 module to balance fruit ripening and innate immunity.

Solanum lycopersicum