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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.

Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1663346

This article is part of the Research TopicProtecting Crops From Pests and Diseases with New Advancements in Bioprotectants and BiostimulantsView all 7 articles

Integrated Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Analysis of Resistant and Susceptible Nicotiana tabacum L. Reveals the Mechanisms of Selenium-Induced Disease Resistance to Phytophthora nicotianae

Provisionally accepted
Kai  ZhangKai Zhang1Xiaohan  MaXiaohan Ma2Jiaying  LiJiaying Li3Fazhan  WangFazhan Wang2Wenchao  WangWenchao Wang1Jiashu  TianJiashu Tian1Huanyu  TengHuanyu Teng1Yingjie  LiuYingjie Liu2Jiayang  XuJiayang Xu4Huiwei  NiuHuiwei Niu2*Wei  JiaWei Jia1*
  • 1National Tobacco Cultivation and Physiology and Biochemistry Research Center, College of Tobacco Science, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
  • 2Staff Development Institute of China National Tobacco Corporation, Zhengzhou, China
  • 3Sanmenxia Branch of Henan Province Tobacco Company, Sanmenxia, China
  • 4College of Resources and Environment, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Tobacco black shank, a destructive soil-borne disease caused by Phytophthora nicotianae, severely impacts tobacco production. Selenium (Se) is a beneficial trace element known to enhance plant stress resistance. While previous studies indicated Se's efficacy against black shank, its differential effects on tobacco varieties with contrasting innate resistance remain unexplored. Herein, we integrated physiological, transcriptomic, and metabolomic analyses to elucidate the mechanisms of Se-induced resistance in a resistant (K326) and a susceptible (Zhongyan 100) tobacco cultivar. Our results showed that foliar application of 8 mg/L Se significantly reduced disease incidence and enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities, membrane stability, and accumulation of protective compounds in both cultivars. Multi-omics analyses revealed that Se potently enhanced resistance in K326 by synergistically upregulating the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway, promoting the synthesis of lignin precursors and phenolic acids, and maintaining purine metabolism to ensure energy supply. In contrast, the susceptible cultivar Zhongyan 100 showed limited metabolic capacity to translate Se-induced transcriptional changes into effective defence metabolite accumulation. These findings provide novel insights into the genotype-dependent mechanisms of Se-induced resistance and highlight the potential of precision Se application as a strategy to bolster defence in resistant cultivars against soil-borne diseases.

Keywords: Selenium1, Tobacco black shank2, Disease Resistance3, transcriptome sequencing4, Metabolomics5

Received: 10 Jul 2025; Accepted: 18 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Ma, Li, Wang, Wang, Tian, Teng, Liu, Xu, Niu and Jia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Huiwei Niu, niuhuiwei1986@163.com
Wei Jia, jiawei@henau.edu.cn

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