The Vitis vinifera receptor VvLYK6 negatively regulates chitin-triggered immune responses and promotes fungal infections

Botrytis cinerea is recognized as one of the most harmful fungal diseases affecting grapevine ( Vitis vinifera ), directly impacting grape yield and wine quality. Identifying new genes involved in the interaction between V. vinifera and B. cinerea appears to be the most promising strategy for enhancing grapevine resistance to this pathogen in future breeding programs. During pathogen infection, plasma membrane-localized pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) are involved in the perception of conserved microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs). Among PRRs, members of the LysM receptor-like kinase family are well known to mediate recognition of fungal MAMPs to induce the plant immune signaling pathway. Interestingly, a novel member of this receptor family, named VvLYK6, was identified in grapevine as the most upregulated during a Botrytis cinerea infection.

Aiming to understand the role of VvLYK6 in plant immunity, we carried out an overexpression study in Arabidopsis thaliana and in grapevine cell suspension. The overexpression of VvLYK6 resulted in a reduction of chitin oligomer-induced MAPKs activation, expression of defense-related genes, a reduced callose deposition and an increased plant susceptibility to three fungal pathogens. At the opposite, the CRISPR-Cas9-mediated vvlyk6 knock-out lines generated in V. vinifera induce the phytoalexin-related stilbene pathway at the basal level.

Based on our findings, we concluded that VvLYK6 negatively regulates the chitin-triggered immune responses in V. vinifera , suggesting its potential involvement as a susceptibility gene during fungal infections.