A Natural Allele of a Transcription Factor in Rice Confers Broad-Spectrum Blast Resistance

Abstract

Rice feeds half the world's population, and rice blast is often a destructive disease that results in significant crop loss. Non-race-specific resistance has been more effective in controlling crop diseases than race-specific resistance because of its broad spectrum and durability. Through a genome-wide association study, we report the identification of a natural allele of a CH-type transcription factor in rice that confers non-race-specific resistance to blast. A survey of 3,000 sequenced rice genomes reveals that this allele exists in 10% of rice, suggesting that this favorable trait has been selected through breeding. This allele causes a single nucleotide change in the promoter of the bsr-d1 gene, which results in reduced expression of the gene through the binding of the repressive MYB transcription factor and, consequently, an inhibition of HO degradation and enhanced disease resistance. Our discovery highlights this novel allele as a strategy for breeding durable resistance in rice.

Natural variations in the MYB transcription factor MYB31 determine the evolution of extremely pungent peppers

“…Variations and/or chemical modifications in the TF‐coding sequence and/or promoter always alter the transcriptional regulation of target genes (Espley et al ., ; Chagné et al ., ; Hatlestad et al ., ; Sheehan et al ., ; Sun et al ., ; Yuan et al ., ; Li et al ., ). These mutations result in the modulation of coordinated gene expression required for the evolution of adaptive traits (Yuan et al ., ; Li et al ., ; Xu et al ., ).…”

mQTL-seq and classical mapping implicates the role of an AT-HOOK MOTIF CONTAINING NUCLEAR LOCALIZED (AHL ) family gene in Ascochyta blight resistance of chickpea

“…They are probable candidates for disease resistance associated QTLs owing to the diversity in their downstream effects. Indeed, transcriptional regulators have been ascribed to disease resistance in several studies (Hu, Qiu, Shen, Li, & Wang, ; Kage, Yogendra, & Kushalappa, ; Li, Zhu, et al, ). We have identified two transcription regulators, CaAHL17 and CaAHL18 , under robust qABR4 .…”

Osa‐miR398b boosts H2O2 production and rice blast disease‐resistance via multiple superoxide dismutases

“…YFP detection and accumulation was assayed as reported previously (Li et al ., ,b). In order to generate miR398 target‐site reporter fusions, we fused yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) with either the target site of Superoxide DismutaseX ( SODX ) at its N‐terminus ( 35S:SODX ts ‐YFP ) or with a mutated target site ( 35S:SODX mts ‐YFP ) that could not be recognized by miR398b.…”