Goss’s Wilt Resistance in Corn Is Mediated via Salicylic Acid and Programmed Cell Death but Not Jasmonic Acid Pathways

A highly aggressive strain (CMN14-5-1) of Clavibacter nebraskensis bacteria, which causes Goss’s wilt in corn, induced severe symptoms in a susceptible corn line (CO447), resulting in water-soaked lesions followed by necrosis within a few days. A tolerant line (CO450) inoculated with the same strain exhibited only mild symptoms such as chlorosis, freckling, and necrosis that did not progress after the first six days following infection. Both lesion length and disease severity were measured using the area under the disease progression curve (AUDPC), and significant differences were found between treatments. We analyzed the expression of key genes related to plant defense in both corn lines challenged with the CMN14-5-1 strain. Allene oxide synthase (ZmAOS), a gene responsible for the production of jasmonic acid (JA), was induced in the CO447 line in response to CMN14-5-1. Following inoculation with CMN14-5-1, the CO450 line demonstrated a higher expression of salicylic acid (SA)-related genes, ZmPAL and ZmPR-1, compared to the CO447 line. In the CO450 line, four genes related to programmed cell death (PCD) were upregulated: respiratory burst oxidase homolog protein D (ZmrbohD), polyphenol oxidase (ZmPPO1), ras-related protein 7 (ZmRab7), and peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase (ZmPPI). The differential gene expression in response to CMN14-5-1 between the two corn lines provided an indication that SA and PCD are involved in the regulation of corn defense responses against Goss’s wilt disease, whereas JA may be contributing to disease susceptibility.