Jujube witches’ broom phytoplasma effector Zaofeng3, a homologous effector of SAP54, induces abnormal floral organ development and shoot proliferation

Plant-pathogenic phytoplasmas secrete specific virulence proteins into a host plant to modulate plant function for their own benefit. Identification of phytoplasmal effectors is a key step toward clarifying the pathogenic mechanisms of phytoplasma. In this study, Zaofeng3, also known as secreted Jujube Witches' broom phytoplasma protein 3 (SJP3), was a homologous effector of SAP54 and induced a variety of abnormal phenotypes, such as phyllody, malformed floral organs, witches' broom and dwarfism in Arabidopsis thaliana. Zaofeng3 can also induce small leaves, dwarfism and witches' broom in Ziziphus jujuba. Further experiments showed that the three complete alpha helix domains predicted in Zaofeng3 were essential for induction of disease symptoms in jujube. Yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) library screening showed that Zaofeng3 mainly interacts with proteins involved in flower morphogenesis and shoot proliferation. Bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) assays confirmed that Zaofeng3 interacted with these proteins in the whole cell. Overexpression of zaofeng3 in jujube shoot significantly altered the expression patterns of ZjMADS19, ZjMADS47, ZjMADS48, ZjMADS77 and ZjTCP7, suggesting that overexpressing zaofeng3 might induce floral organ malformation and witches' broom by altering the expression of the TFs involved in jujube morphogenesis.