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Research article2024Peer reviewedOpen access

Enhanced stress resilience in potato by deletion of Parakletos

Zahid, Muhammad Awais; Kieu Phuong, Nam; Meijer Carlsen, Frida; Lenman, Marit; Konakalla, Nagacharan; Yang, Huanjie; Jyakhwa, Sunmoon; Mravec, Jozef; Petersen, Bent Larsen; Vetukuri, Ramesh; Resjö, Svante; Andreasson, Erik

Abstract

Continued climate change impose multiple stressors on crops, including pathogens, salt, and drought, severely impacting agricultural productivity. Innovative solutions are necessary to develop resilient crops. Here, using quantitative potato proteomics, we identify Parakletos, a thylakoid protein that contributes to disease susceptibility. We show that knockout or silencing of Parakletos enhances resistance to oomycete, fungi, bacteria, salt, and drought, whereas its overexpression reduces resistance. In response to biotic stimuli, Parakletos-overexpressing plants exhibit reduced amplitude of reactive oxygen species and Ca2+ signalling, and silencing Parakletos does the opposite. Parakletos homologues have been identified in all major crops. Consecutive years of field trials demonstrate that Parakletos deletion enhances resistance to Phytophthora infestans and increases yield. These findings demark a susceptibility gene, which can be exploited to enhance crop resilience towards abiotic and biotic stresses in a low-input agriculture.

Published in

Nature Communications
2024, volume: 15, article number: 5224

SLU Authors

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science
Plant Biotechnology

Publication identifier

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49584-4

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/131173