Blast fungus-induction and developmental and tissue-specific expression of a rice P450 CYP72A gene cluster

Abstract

Cytochrome P450 gene superfamily is widely involved in diverse processes of plant development and environmental responses including defense response to pathogens. We previously isolated a rice cDNA fragment in a DD-PCR screening for blast fungus-induced genes. In the current study, we isolated aCYP72A gene cluster consisting of 7 P450CYP72A genes (CYP72A17∼23) with the conserved cDNA sequence through the public rice genome data. There are total 14 putative CYP72A members in the rice genome, with high diversity at N-terminal sequences while high homology at C-terminal sequences of those 14 putative proteins. We analyzed expression profiles of the cloned 7CYP72A genes during pathogen infection and development. The results showed that expression ofCYP72A18, 19, 22 and23 was differentially regulated in the incompatible and compatible interactions between rice and blast fungus. ExceptCYP72A20, a pseudogene, other 6CYP72A genes also exhibited temporal and spatial expression patterns, respectively. These findings provide fundamental data for rice P450 gene function analysis.