Abstract

Plant immunity frequently incurs growth penalties, which known as the trade-off between immunity and growth. Heterosis, the phenotypic superiority of a hybrid over its parents, has been demonstrated for many traits but rarely for disease resistance. Here, we report that the central circadian oscillator, CCA1, confers heterosis for bacterial defense in hybrids without growth vigor costs, and it even significantly enhances the growth heterosis of hybrids under pathogen infection. The genetic perturbation of CCA1 abrogated heterosis for both defense and growth in hybrids. Upon pathogen attack, the expression of CCA1 in F1 hybrids is precisely modulated at different time points during the day by its rhythmic histone modifications. Before dawn of the first infection day, epigenetic activation of CCA1 promotes an elevation of salicylic acid accumulation in hybrids, enabling heterosis for defense. During the middle of every infection day, diurnal epigenetic repression of CCA1 leads to rhythmically increased chlorophyll synthesis and starch metabolism in hybrids, effectively eliminating the immunity-growth heterosis trade-offs in hybrids.

There is frequently a trade-off between plant immunity and growth. Here the authors show that the epigenetic control of CCA1, encoding a core component of the circadian oscillator, simultaneously promotes heterosis for both defense and growth in hybrids under pathogen invasion.

Details

Title
A central circadian oscillator confers defense heterosis in hybrids without growth vigor costs
Author
Yang, Li 1 ; Liu, Pengtao 2 ; Wang Xuncheng 2 ; Jia Aolin 2 ; Ren Diqiu 2 ; Tang Yaru 3 ; Tang Yaqi 3 ; Deng Xing Wang 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; He, Guangming 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Peking University, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences and School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.11135.37) (ISNI:0000 0001 2256 9319); China Agricultural University, Department of Plant Pathology, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.22935.3f) (ISNI:0000 0004 0530 8290) 
 Peking University, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences and School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.11135.37) (ISNI:0000 0001 2256 9319) 
 China Agricultural University, Department of Plant Pathology, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.22935.3f) (ISNI:0000 0004 0530 8290) 
 Peking University, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences and School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.11135.37) (ISNI:0000 0001 2256 9319); Southern University of Science and Technology, Peking University-Southern University of Science and Technology Institute of Plant and Food Science, Department of Biology, Shenzhen, China (GRID:grid.263817.9) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2514870675
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.