Targeted MYC2 stabilization confers citrus Huanglongbing resistance

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Zhao, Pingzhi; Yang, Huan; Sun, Yanwei; Zhang, Jingyin; Gao, Kaixing; Wu, Jinbao; Zhu, Chengrong; Yin, Cece; Chen, Xiaoyue; Liu, Qi; Xia, Qiudong; Li, Qiong; Xiao, Han; Sun, Hai-Xi; Zhang, Xiaoxiao; Yi, Long; Zhou, Changyong; Kliebenstein, Daniel J.; Fang, Rongxiang; Wang, Xuefeng; Ye, Jian
• 署名单位: Chinese Academy of Sciences; Institute of Microbiology, CAS; Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS; Guangxi University; Gannan Normal University; Southwest University - China; University of California System; University of California Davis
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-11145
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adq7203
• 发表日期: 2025-04-10
• 页码: 191-198
• 关键词: genes

摘要

Huanglongbing (HLB) is a devastating citrus disease. In this work, we report an HLB resistance regulatory circuit in Citrus composed of an E3 ubiquitin ligase, PUB21, and its substrate, the MYC2 transcription factor, which regulates jasmonate-mediated defense responses. A helitron insertion in the PUB21 promoter introduced multiple MYC2-binding cis-elements to create a regulatory circuit linking the PUB21 activity with MYC2 degradation. Ectopic expression of a natural dominant-negative PUB21 paralog discovered in distant Citrus relatives stabilized MYC2 and conferred resistance to HLB. Antiproteolysis peptides (APPs), identified by artificial intelligence, stabilized MYC2 by binding and inhibiting PUB21 activity. A 14-amino acid peptide, APP3-14, molecularly controlled HLB in greenhouse and field trials. This approach represents a strategy to combat uncultivable pathogens through targeted disease resistance protein stabilization.