Abstract
Accumulating data have suggested that small RNAs (sRNAs) have important functions in plant responses to pathogen invasion. However, it is largely unknown whether and how sRNAs are involved in the regulation of rice responses to the invasion of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), which causes bacterial blight, the most devastating bacterial disease of rice worldwide. We performed simultaneous genome-wide analyses of the expression of sRNAs and genes during early defense responses of rice to Xoo mediated by a major disease resistance gene, Xa3/Xa26, which confers durable and race-specific qualitative resistance. A large number of sRNAs and genes showed differential expression in Xa3/Xa26-mediated resistance. These differentially expressed sRNAs include known microRNAs (miRNAs), unreported miRNAs, and small interfering RNAs. The candidate genes, with expression that was negatively correlated with the expression of sRNAs, were identified, indicating that these genes may be regulated by sRNAs in disease resistance in rice. These results provide a new perspective regarding the putative roles of sRNA candidates and their putative target genes in durable disease resistance in rice.
Highlights
Rice is the main staple food for a large part of the world
Transgenic rice line Rb49 carries the major disease resistance (MR) gene Xa3/Xa26, which is driven by its native promoter with the genetic background of Mudanjiang 8 (MDJ8), and this line is resistant to certain strains of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) [22, 32]
The seedlings of resistant rice line Rb49 and susceptible rice line MDJ8 were inoculated with Xoo strain PXO61 or water
Summary
Rice is the main staple food for a large part of the world. Rice diseases cause great global loss of yield every year [1]. Using intrinsic genetic defense resources in rice for improvement in disease resistance is an important strategy for sustainable rice production [2]. Breeding rice with the features of broad-spectrum (against two or more types of pathogen species or the majority of strains or isolates of the same pathogen species) and durable (remaining effective during its prolonged and widespread use in an environment favorable to disease spread) disease resistance is one of the principal goals of rice improvement [3]. The effective use of defense resources for rice breeding is dependent on our understanding of rice defense mechanisms that still remain to be elucidated.
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