Abstract

The soil-borne fungal pathogen Verticillium dahliae ( V. dahliae ) is the causal agent of Verticillium wilt (VW), a vascular disease that severely threatens global cotton production. Although cell wall lignification represents a cornerstone of plant immunity, the precise regulatory circuits that bridge this structural reinforcement with Verticillium dahliae resistance in cotton have yet to be fully elucidated. Here, we demonstrate that the NAC transcription factor GhNAC043 is a key positive regulator of this defense. GhNAC043 expression was rapidly induced upon V. dahliae infection. Silencing GhNAC043 in cotton compromised resistance, reducing lignin accumulation and downregulating lignin biosynthesis genes. Conversely, heterologous overexpression of GhNAC043 in Arabidopsis enhanced VW tolerance. We further identified GhBPM2 as a nuclear interaction partner of GhNAC043. Profiling of the transcriptome …

Date

2026

Authors

Zhaoyuan Ba, Juyun Zheng, Ying Liu, Jingxuan Guo, Xueyuan Ma, Zhaoqi Wang, Zhenyu Wang, Xiaoyu Pei, Xiang Ren, Yu Liang, Meng Kang, Xingxing Wang, Xueyuan Li, Xiongfeng Ma

Journal

Plant Physiology and Biochemistry

Pages

111566

Publisher

Elsevier Masson