Determining the GmRIN4 requirements of the soybean disease resistance proteins Rpg1b and Rpg1r using a Nicotiana glutinosa-based agroinfiltration system

Abstract

Rpg1b and Rpg1r are soybean disease resistance (R) genes responsible for conferring resistance to Pseudomonas syringae strains expressing the effectors AvrB and AvrRpm1, respectively. The study of these cloned genes would be greatly facilitated by the availability of a suitable transient expression system. The commonly used Niciotiana benthamiana-based system is not suitable for studying Rpg1b and Rpg1r function, however, because expression of AvrB or AvrRpm1 alone induces a hypersensitive response (HR), indicating that N. benthamiana contains endogenous R genes that recognize these effectors. To identify a suitable alternative host for transient expression assays, we screened 13 species of Nicotiana along with 11 accessions of N. tabacum for lack of response to transient expression of AvrB and AvrRpm1. We found that N. glutinosa did not respond to either effector and was readily transformable as determined by transient expression of β-glucuronidase. Using this system, we determined that Rpg1b-mediated HR in N. glutinosa required co-expression of avrB and a soybean ortholog of the Arabidopsis RIN4 gene. All four soybean RIN4 orthologs tested worked in the assay. In contrast, Rpg1r did not require co-expression of a soybean RIN4 ortholog to recognize AvrRpm1, but recognition was suppressed by co-expression with AvrRpt2. These observations suggest that an endogenous RIN4 gene in N. glutinosa can substitute for the soybean RIN4 ortholog in the recognition of AvrRpm1 by Rpg1r.