SlWRKY70 is required for Mi-1-mediated resistance to aphids and nematodes in tomato

Plant resistance (R) gene-mediated defense responses against biotic stresses include vast transcriptional reprogramming. In several plant-pathogen systems, members of the WRKY family of transcription factors have been demonstrated to act as both positive and negative regulators of plant defense transcriptional networks. To identify the possible roles of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) WRKY transcription factors in defense mediated by the R gene Mi-1 against potato aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, and root-knot nematode (RKN), Meloidogyne javanica, we used tobacco rattle virus (TRV)-based virus-induced gene silencing and transcriptionally suppressed SlWRKY70, a tomato ortholog of the Arabidopsis thaliana WRKY70 gene. Silencing SlWRKY70 attenuated Mi-1-mediated resistance against both potato aphid and RKN showing that SlWRKY70 is required for Mi-1 function. Furthermore, we found SlWRKY70 transcripts to be inducible in response to aphid infestation and RKN inoculation. Mi-1-mediated recognition of these pests modulates this transcriptional response. As previously described for AtWRKY70, we found SlWRKY70 transcript levels to be up-regulated by salicylic acid and suppressed by methyl jasmonate. This indicates that some aspects of WRKY70 regulation are conserved among distantly related eudicots.