Defense Mechanism of Capsicum annuum L. Infected with Pepper Mild Mottle Virus Induced by Vanisulfane

Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), an RNA virus, is one of the most devastating pathogens in pepper crops and has a significant influence on global crop yields. PMMoV poses a major threat to the global shortage of pepper plants and other Solanaceae crops due to the lack of an effective antiviral agent. In this study, we have developed a plant immune inducer (vanisulfane), as a “plant vaccine” that boosts plant immunity against PMMoV, and studied its resistance mechanism. The protective activity of vanisulfane against PMMoV was 59.4%. Vanisulfane can enhance the activity of defense enzymes and improve the content of chlorophyll, flavonoids, and total phenols for removing harmful free radicals from plants. Furthermore, vanisulfane was found to enhance defense genes. Label-free quantitative proteomics would tackle disease resistance pathways of vanisulfane. According to Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis, differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) are mainly involved in starch and sucrose metabolism, photosynthesis, MAPK signaling pathway, and oxidative phosphorylation pathway. These results are crucial for the discovery of new pesticides, understanding the improvement of plant immunity and the antiviral activity of plant immune inducers.