Nicotinamide mononucleotide confers broad-spectrum disease resistance in plants
Published 01 April, 2026
Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), a precursor in nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) biosynthesis, is known for its important role in medicine. Recent investigations have also suggested its potential as a plant immunity inducer for controlling fungal diseases. However, whether NMN confers plant broad-spectrum resistance against diverse phytopathogens, and its underlying mechanisms remain ambiguous.
To that end, a team of researchers from China investigated the effect of NMN against multiple phytopathogens in tobacco. They reported their results in the Journal of Integrative Agriculture.
"We found that tobacco pretreated with NMN exhibits enhanced resistance against Ralstonia solanacearum CQPS-1, Pseudomonas syringae DC3000 ΔhopQ1-1, Phytophthora parasitica, and tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)," shares corresponding author Meixiang Zhang, a professor at Shaanxi Normal University, China.
In particular, NMN displays effectiveness within the concentration range of 50–600 μmol L–1, with 75 μmol L–1 NMN exhibiting the most pronounced effect. "The impact of NMN pretreatment could persist for up to 10 days," adds Zhang.
Beyond tobacco, NMN pretreatment enhances disease resistance in tomato and pepper plants against diverse pathogens, underscoring NMN's capacity to confer broad-spectrum disease resistance in crops. Moreover, RT-qPCR analysis reveals that NMN significantly upregulates the expression of the pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) marker gene NbCYP71D20 and salicylic acid (SA) marker gene NbPR1a. "This suggests that NMN enhances plant resistance by inducing both PTI and SA-mediated immunity," explains Zhang.
Interestingly, the positive impact of NMN on plant disease resistance is not significantly compromised in both NMN adenylyltransferase (NMNAT)-silenced plants and NAD receptor mutant lecrk-I.8, suggesting the existence of NAD-independent signaling pathways for NMN-induced plant immunity.
"Our study establishes that the bioactive molecule NMN imparts broad-spectrum disease resistance in plants, offering a simple, environmental-friendly, and promising strategy for safeguarding crops against diverse phytopathogens," says co-correponding author Yuyan An.
Furthermore, the team's findings provide valuable insights for future in-depth studies into the functional mechanisms of NMN.
Contact Authors:
Shuangxi Zhang, E-mail: sxzhang2022@snnu.edu.cn; Xinlin Wei, E-mail: xinlinwei@snnu.edu.cn;
Rongbo Wang, E-mail: wrb16128@163.com;
Correspondence Meixiang Zhang, E-mail: meixiangzhang@snnu.edu.cn; Yuyan An, E-mail: anyuyan@snnu.edu.cn
Funder:
This work was supported by the Technology Innovation Leading Program of Shaanxi, China (2023QYPY2-01), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32072399, 32302296, and 32372483), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (GK202201017 and GK202207024), and the Program of Fujian Key Laboratory for Monitoring and Integrated Management of Crop Pests, China (MIMCP-202203).
Conflict of Interest:
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
See the Article:
Zhang S X et al. 2026. Nicotinamide mononucleotide confers broad-spectrum disease resistance in plants. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 25(3): 1064-1073.