Membrane Localized GbTMEM214s Participate in Modulating Cotton Resistance to Verticillium Wilt

Verticillium wilt (VW) is a soil-borne fungal disease caused by Verticillium dahliae Kleb, which leads to serious damage to cotton production annually in the world. In our previous study, a transmembrane protein 214 protein (TMEM214) gene associated with VW resistance was map-based cloned from Gossypium barbadense (G. barbadense). TMEM214 proteins are a kind of transmembrane protein, but their function in plants is rarely studied. To reveal the function of TMEM214s in VW resistance, all six TMEM214s were cloned from G. barbadense in this study. These genes were named as GbTMEM214-1_A/D, GbTMEM214-4_A/D and GbTMEM214-7_A/D, according to their location on the chromosomes. The encoded proteins are all located on the cell membrane. TMEM214 genes were all induced with Verticillium dahliae inoculation and showed significant differences between resistant and susceptible varieties, but the expression patterns of GbTMEM214s under different hormone treatments were significantly different. Virus-induced gene silencing analysis showed the resistance to VW of GbTMEM214s-silenced lines decreased significantly, which further proves the important role of GbTMEM214s in the resistance to Verticillium dahliae. Our study provides an insight into the involvement of GbTMEM214s in VW resistance, which was helpful to better understand the disease-resistance mechanism of plants.