Necrotrophic pathogens such as Botrytis cinerea cause significant crop yield losses. Plant CCCH proteins play important roles in pathogen resistance responses. However, the CCCH‐mediated defense mechanisms against necrotrophic pathogens are unclear. Here, we report that the Arabidopsis CCCH protein C3H14 positively regulates basal defense against B. cinerea mainly by WRKY33 signaling. Simultaneous mutation of C3H14 and its paralog C3H15 resulted in enhanced susceptibility to B. cinerea , while C3H14 or C3H15 overexpression lines exhibited reduced susceptibility. A large number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were present in the c3h14c3h15 double mutant and C3H14 overexpression plants compared with wild‐type plants at 24 hr post infection. These DEGs covered over one third of B. cinerea ‐responsive WRKY33 targets, including genes involved in jasmonic acid (JA)/ethylene (ET) signaling, and camalexin biosynthesis. Genetic analysis indicated that C3H14 mainly depended on WRKY33 to modulate defense against B. cinerea . Moreover, C3H14 activated the WRKY33‐ORA59 and ‐PAD3 cascades to correspondingly control JA/ET‐ and camalexin‐mediated defense responses. However, C3H14 was essential for B. cinerea‐ induced production of 12‐oxo‐phytodienoic acid and it also directly mediated ORA59‐dependent JA/ET signaling after infection. Therefore, C3H14 may act as a novel transcriptional regulator of the WRKY33‐mediated defense pathway.

中文翻译：

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拟南芥CCCH蛋白C3H14主要通过WRKY33依赖性途径促进对灰葡萄孢的基础防御。

坏死性病原体，例如灰葡萄孢（Botrytis cinerea）导致作物产量大幅下降。植物CCCH蛋白在病原体抗性应答中起重要作用。但是，CCCH介导的针对坏死性病原体的防御机制尚不清楚。在这里，我们报告拟南芥CCCH蛋白C3H14主要通过WRKY33信号转导正调控对灰葡萄孢的基础防御。C3H14及其旁系同源物C3H15同时突变导致对灰葡萄孢菌的敏感性增强，而C3H14或C3H15过表达系表现出降低的敏感性。与野生型植物在感染后24小时相比，c3h14c3h15双突变和C3H14过表达植物中存在大量差异表达基因（DEG）。这些DEG涵盖了灰葡萄孢反应性WRKY33靶标的三分之一以上，包括涉及茉莉酸（JA）/乙烯（ET）信号转导和Camalexin生物合成的基因。遗传分析表明，C3H14主要依赖WRKY33调控灰葡萄菌的防御。此外，C3H14激活了WRKY33-ORA59和PAD3级联反应，以相应地控制JA / ET和Camalexin介导的防御反应。但是，C3H14对灰葡萄孢菌至关重要诱导产生12-氧-植物二烯酸，并在感染后直接介导ORA59依赖的JA / ET信号传导。因此，C3H14可能充当WRKY33介导的防御途径的新型转录调节因子。