Amino acid permease 6 modulates host response to cyst nematodes in wheat and Arabidopsis

Abstract

Summary Cyst nematodes are plant parasites that cause significant crop loss in wheat and other crops. Infective juveniles invade roots and induce syncytial feeding structures as the only source of nutrients throughout their life. A previous genome-wide association study in wheat identified amino acid permease 6 (TaAAP6) to be linked to susceptibility to the cereal cyst nematode Heterodera filipjevi. To characterise the role of AAP6 during nematode parasitism, we analysed the expression of TaAAP6 and the Arabidopsis orthologue AtAAP6. TaAAP6 was found to be highly expressed in nematode-infected roots of susceptible wheat, whereas it was not upregulated in nematode-infected roots of resistant accessions. AtAAP6 was also found to be highly upregulated in nematode-induced syncytia compared with non-infected roots. Infection assays with an AtAAP6 knock-out mutant revealed reduction in developing females, female size, and size of female-associated syncytia, thus indicating the importance of AAP6 in cyst nematode parasitism.