ChIFNα regulates adventitious root development in Lotus japonicus via an auxin-mediated pathway

ABSTRACT

Adventitious roots (ARs), developing from non-root tissue, play an important role in some plants. Here, the molecular mechanism of AR differentiation in Lotus japonicus L. (L. japonicus) with the transformed chicken interferon alpha gene (ChIFNα) encoding cytokine was studied. ChIFNα transgenic plants (TP) were identified by GUS staining, PCR, RT-PCR, and ELISA. Up to 0.175 μg/kg rChIFNα was detected in TP2 lines. Expressing rChIFNα promotes AR development by producing longer roots than controls. We found that the effect was enhanced with the auxin precursor IBA treatment in TP. IAA contents, POD, and PPO activities associated with auxin regulation were higher than wild type (WT) in TP and exogenous ChIFNα treatment plants. Transcriptome analysis revealed 48 auxin-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (FDR < 0.05), which expression levels were verified by RT-qPCR analysis. GO enrichment analysis of DEGs also highlighted the auxin pathway. Further analysis found that ChIFNα significantly enhanced auxin synthesis and signaling mainly with up-regulated genes of ALDH, and GH3. Our study reveals that ChIFNα can promote plant AR development by mediating auxin regulation. The findings help explore the role of ChIFNα cytokines and expand animal gene sources for the molecular breeding of growth regulation of forage plants.

KEYWORDS:

• Chicken interferon alpha gene
• forage plants
• Lotus japonicus L.
• adventitious roots
• auxin regulation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contributions

Conceptualization, P.W. and L.S.; methodology, V.L., and Q.G.; software, J.H., and Y.W.; validation, P.W., V.L., and Q.G.; investigation, P.W., and J.H.; writing – original draft preparation, P.W., X.W., and L.S.; writing – review and editing, X.W., L.S. and Y.W.; visualization, P.W.; X.W. and L.S.; funding acquisition, L.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2023.2218670

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China grants (32260338) and (31660685) and the Guizhou Province Science and Technology Project (2023ZK119)