Verticillium wilt is a vascular disease causing tremendous damage to cotton production worldwide. However, our knowledge of the mechanisms of cotton resistance or susceptibility to this disease is very limited. In this study, we compared the defense transcriptomes of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) cultivars Shidalukang 1 (Verticillium dahliae resistant, HR) and Junmian 1 (V. dahliae susceptible, HS) before and after V. dahliae infection, identified hub genes of the network associated with responses to V. dahliae infection, and functionally characterized one of the hub genes involved in biosynthesis of lignin and phenolics. We identified 6,831 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the basal transcriptomes of HR and HS; 3,685 and 3,239 of these DEGs were induced in HR and HS, respectively, at different time points after V. dahliae infection. KEGG pathway analysis indicated that DEGs were enriched for genes involved in lignin biosynthesis. In all, 23 hub genes were identified based on a weighted gene coexpression network analysis of the 6,831 DEGs and their expression profiles at different time points after V. dahliae infection. Knockdown of Gh4CL30, one of the hub genes related to the lignin biosynthesis pathway, by virus-induced gene silencing, led to a decreased content of flavonoids, lignin, and S monomer but an increased content of G monomer, G/S lignin monomer, caffeic acid, and ferulic acid, and enhanced cotton resistance to V. dahliae. These results suggest that Gh4CL30 is a key gene modulating the outputs of different branches of the lignin biosynthesis pathway, and provide new insights into cotton resistance to V. dahliae.

Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.

黄萎病是一种血管疾病，对全世界的棉花生产造成极大的损害。但是，我们对棉花抗性或对这种疾病的敏感性机制的知识非常有限。在这项研究中，我们比较了棉花（的防务转录陆地棉）品种Shidalukang 1（黄萎病抗性，HR）和Junmian 1（黄萎病菌前后易感，HS）黄萎病菌感染，网络确认的集线器基因与对大丽花弧菌的反应有关感染，并在功能上表征了参与木质素和酚类生物合成的中枢基因之一。我们确定了HR和HS的基础转录组之间的6,831个差异表达基因（DEG）。3685和这些DEGS的3239中分别HR和HS，被诱导，在之后的不同时间点黄萎病菌感染。KEGG通路分析表明，DEGs富含参与木质素生物合成的基因。总之，23个毂基因基于后的6831度的视角和它们的表达谱在不同时间点的加权基因共表达网络分析鉴定黄萎病菌感染。击倒Gh4CL30，是通过病毒诱导的基因沉默与木质素生物合成途径相关的中枢基因之一，导致黄酮类，木质素和S单体含量降低，但G单体，G / S木质素单体，咖啡酸含量增加，和阿魏酸，增强棉花对大丽花的抗性。这些结果表明，Gh4CL30是调节木质素生物合成途径不同分支的输出的关键基因，并为棉花对大丽花抗性提供了新的见解。

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