P-078 - The Role of Lettuce WRKY Transcription Factors in Plant Defence Against Botrytis Cinerea

The growing population and climate change pressure agriculture to meet food demands, as 10% of people faced hunger in 2020, highlighting the need for innovative crop solutions. Botrytis cinerea, a necrotrophic fungal pathogen, causes significant crop losses across a broad host range during pre- and post-harvest stages. Developing disease-resistant cultivars is a promising strategy to mitigate these losses, reduce pesticide reliance, and promote sustainable agriculture. WRKY transcription factors have emerged as critical regulators of plant defence mechanisms. This study focuses on the roles of lettuce WRKY7 orthologues (LsWRKY7a and LsWRKY7b) in immunity against B. cinerea. Functional studies in transgenic Arabidopsis lines revealed that overexpression of LsWRKY7a significantly enhanced resistance to B. cinerea, as evidenced by reduced lesion sizes in detached leaf assays. Conversely, LsWRKY7b-expressing lines exhibited no significant change in resistance. These findings position LsWRKY7a as a positive regulator of plant defence and a promising candidate for developing disease-resistant crops. Future work on Arabidopsis WRKY7 and WRKY15 will use CRISPR-Cas9 knockouts and transcriptional activation to clarify their roles in defence signalling, aiding sustainable crop protection against necrotrophic pathogens like B. cinerea and reducing pesticide reliance, ensuring global food security and reducing the reliance on chemical pesticides.