Initial characterization of a bacterial leaf streak susceptibility gene suggests it encodes a membrane transporter that influences seed nutrition and germination

Abstract

The type III secreted transcription activator-like effector Tal2g of the rice bacterial leaf streak (BLS) pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola promotes lesion development and bacterial exudation through stomata by binding to and upregulating a putative sulfate transporter gene in rice, OsSULTR3;6. To understand how OsSULTR3;6 contributes to disease development, we are characterizing its transport mechanics, subcellular localization, and potential substrates, and phenotyping OsSULTR3;6 knockout lines generated by genome editing. Following a brief introduction to the plant SULTR gene family, this chapter summarizes our findings so far and presents speculative functional models for the role of OsSULTR3;6 in BLS.