Silencing of tomato CTR1 provides enhanced tolerance against Tomato leaf curl virus infection

Abstract

Tomato leaf curl virus(ToLCV) belonging to Begomovirus family of Geminivirus is known to cause one of the most destructive diseases in tomato. Amongst variousToLCVs, a monopartite Tomato leaf curl Joydebpur virus (ToLCJoV) is most prevalent in eastern part of India. In the present study, we observed induced expression of one of the negative regulators of ethylene signaling pathway gene (LeCTR1)in ToLCJoVinfected plants. TheTobacco rattle virus(TRV) induced silencing of theLeCTR1gene provided enhanced tolerance toToLCJoVinfections. The leaf curling as well as ROS accumulation was significantly reduced in the viral infectedLeCTR1silenced plants. Induction of several defense marker genes (NPR1, PR1, PR5, AOS2, EIN2, EIN3and ERF5) reinforced enhanced tolerance againstToLCJoVinfection in the LeCTR1silenced tomato. Overall, the present study provides evidence that silencing ofLeCTR1can be deployed to protect tomato fromToLCJoVinfections.