<i>RS_CRZ1</i>, a C2H2-Type Transcription Factor Is Required for Pathogenesis of <i>Rhizoctonia solani</i> AG1-IA in Tomato

Rhizoctonia solani is a necrotrophic fungal pathogen that causes disease in diverse plant species. In recent years, the genomic and transcriptomic studies have identified several candidate pathogenicity determinants of R. solani; however, most them remain to be validated. this study, we report viral vector-based host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) as well dsRNA (double-stranded RNA)-based approach effectively downregulate genes AG1-IA (BRS1 strain) during pathogenesis tomato. We tested few in-planta upregulated observed one them, i.e., RS_CRZ1 (a C2H2 type zinc finger transcription factor) significantly compromises The RS_CRZ1-silenced plants not only exhibited significant reduction symptoms, but depth colonization was also compromised. Furthermore, were coregulated with process. HIGS-mediated [CL1756Contig1; subtilisin-like protease CL1817Contig2; 2OG-Fe(II) oxygenase] compromised ectopic expression complemented crz1 mutant yeast restored tolerance against various metal ion stress. Overall, our study reveals importance managing hostile environment encountered host colonization. Also, it emphasizes relevance HIGS dsRNA-based toward functional characterization solani. [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2021 Author(s). This an open access article distributed under CC BY 4.0 International license .