2. Academic Validation
  3. iJAZ-based approach to engineer lepidopteran pest resistance in multiple crop species

iJAZ-based approach to engineer lepidopteran pest resistance in multiple crop species

  • Nat Plants. 2024 May;10(5):771-784. doi: 10.1038/s41477-024-01682-3.
Huijuan Mo # 1 2,  Huimin Chang # 1 2,  Ge Zhao # 1,  Guanjing Hu # 2 3,  Xiumei Luo 4,  Xue Jia 1,  Zhenlu Xu 1,  Guangming Ren 1,  Li Feng 4,  Jonathan F Wendel 5,  Xiaoya Chen 6,  Maozhi Ren 7 8,  Fuguang Li 9 10 11
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Zhengzhou Research Base, National Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, School of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
  • 2 National Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, China.
  • 3 Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
  • 4 Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu, China.
  • 5 Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA. jfw@iastate.edu.
  • 6 Shanghai Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics and Resources, Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, Shanghai, China. xychen@cemps.ac.cn.
  • 7 Zhengzhou Research Base, National Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, School of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China. renmaozhi01@caas.cn.
  • 8 Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu, China. renmaozhi01@caas.cn.
  • 9 Zhengzhou Research Base, National Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, School of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China. aylifug@caas.cn.
  • 10 National Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, China. aylifug@caas.cn.
  • 11 The Shennong Laboratory, Zhengzhou, China. aylifug@caas.cn.
  • # Contributed equally.
PMID: 38684916 DOI: 10.1038/s41477-024-01682-3
Abstract

The fall armyworm (FAW) poses a significant threat to global crop production. Here we showed that overexpression of jasmonate ZIM-domain (JAZ) protein GhJAZ24 confers resistance to cotton bollworm and FAW, while also causing sterility in transgenic cotton by recruiting TOPLESS and histone deacetylase 6. We identified the NGR motif of GhJAZ24 that recognizes and binds the Aminopeptidase N receptor, enabling GhJAZ24 to enter cells and disrupt histone deacetylase 3, leading to cell death. To overcome plant sterility associated with GhJAZ24 overexpression, we developed iJAZ (i, induced), an approach involving damage-induced expression and a switch from intracellular to extracellular localization of GhJAZ24. iJAZ transgenic cotton maintained fertility and showed insecticidal activity against cotton bollworm and FAW. In addition, iJAZ transgenic rice, maize and tobacco Plants showed insecticidal activity against their lepidopteran pests, resulting in an iJAZ-based approach for generating alternative insecticidal proteins with distinctive mechanisms of action, thus holding immense potential for future crop engineering.

Figures
Products