Abstract
Rice sheath blight, caused by Rhizoctonia solani, is one of the most devastating diseases for stable rice production in most rice-growing regions of the world. Currently, studies of the molecular mechanism of rice sheath blight resistance are scarce. Here, we used an RNA-seq approach to analyze the gene expression changes induced by the AG1 IA strain of R. solani in rice at 12, 24, 36, 48, and 72 h. By comparing the transcriptomes of TeQing (a moderately resistant cultivar) and Lemont (a susceptible cultivar) leaves, variable transcriptional responses under control and infection conditions were revealed. From these data, 4,802 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified. Gene ontology and pathway enrichment analyses suggested that most DEGs and related metabolic pathways in both rice genotypes were common and spanned most biological activities after AG1 IA inoculation. The main difference between the resistant and susceptible plants was a difference in the timing of the response to AG1 IA infection. Photosynthesis, photorespiration, and jasmonic acid and phenylpropanoid metabolism play important roles in disease resistance, and the relative response of disease resistance-related pathways in TeQing leaves was more rapid than that of Lemont leaves at 12 h. Here, the transcription data include the most comprehensive list of genes and pathway candidates induced by AG1 IA that is available for rice and will serve as a resource for future studies into the molecular mechanisms of the responses of rice to AG1 IA.
Highlights
Due to their growth characteristics, plants are constantly exposed to different environmental stresses throughout their life cycle, and pathogen infection is a leading constraint on plant growth and productivity (Dodds and Rathjen, 2010)
Based on the Gene Ontology (GO) classifications, we found that in the two dynamic expression patterns, cluster No 12 was enriched in genes involved in the generation of precursor metabolites, cellular homeostasis, nucleolus, and enzyme regulator activity, and cluster No 19 was mainly enriched in genes related to the regulation of gene expression, epigenetics, the cell cycle, FIGURE 2 | Venn diagram of differentially expressed genes in both rice cultivars at different time points after AG1 IA inoculation
Based on the observation that plant-pathogen interaction pathways were induced at 24 h, we found that rice LysM receptor-like kinase (OsCERK1), rice chitin receptor chitin oligosaccharide elicitor-binding protein (OsCEBiP) and OsFLS2 were expressed in TeQing and Lemont leaves
Summary
Due to their growth characteristics, plants are constantly exposed to different environmental stresses throughout their life cycle, and pathogen infection is a leading constraint on plant growth and productivity (Dodds and Rathjen, 2010). Along with climate change, diseases caused by Rhizoctonia solani have severely limited rice production, leading to drastic economic losses each year that threaten food security (Anderson et al, 2004; Marchetti and Bollich, 1991; Lee et al, 2006). Despite the huge global losses in rice yield caused by sheath blight, only limited information is available regarding effective control of this disease. Successful attempts have been made to understand the responses of various rice lines to R. solani infection, which have been classified as partial resistance mechanisms but are referred to as incomplete, quantitative, or horizontal resistance mechanisms (Liu et al, 2013). Dissecting the molecular mechanism of rice sheath blight resistance would be an important step toward developing novel and effective strategies to control diseases
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