KED gene expression in early response to wounding stress in tomato plants

Abstract The wounding‐responsive KED gene, named for its coding for a lysine (K), glutamic acid (E), and aspartic acid (D)‐rich protein, is widely present among land plants. However, little is known about its regulation or function. In this study, we found that transcription of the tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum ) KED gene, SlKED , was rapidly and transiently elevated by wounding or ethephon treatment. Compared to the wild‐type plants, the CRISPR/Cas9‐mediated SlKED knockout plants did not exhibit altered expression patterns for genes involved in hormone biosynthesis or stress signaling, suggesting a lack of pleiotropic effect on other stress‐responsive genes. Conversely, jasmonic acid did not appear to directly regulate SlKED expression. Wounded leaves of the KED‐lacking plants exhibited higher binding of Evans blue dye than the wild‐type, indicating a possible role for KED in healing damaged tissues. The SlKED knockout plants showed a similar dietary effect as the wild‐type on the larval growth of tobacco hornworm. But a higher frequency of larval mandible (mouth) movement was recorded during the first 2 minutes of feeding on the wounded KED‐lacking SlKED knockout plants than on the wounded KED‐producing wild‐type plants, probably reflecting an initial differential response by the feeding larvae to the SlKED knockout plants. Our findings suggest that SlKED may be an ethylene‐mediated early responder to mechanical stress in tomato, acting downstream of the wound stress response pathways. Although its possible involvement in response to other biotic and abiotic stresses is still unclear, we propose that SlKED may play a role in plant's rapid, short‐term, early wounding responses, such as in cellular damage healing.