Epigenetic regulation of antagonistic receptors confers rice blast resistance with yield balance

Abstract

Crop breeding aims to balance disease resistance with yield; however, single resistance (R) genes can lead to resistance breakdown, and R gene pyramiding may affect growth fitness. Here we report that the rice locus contains a cluster of genes encoding nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) receptors that confer durable resistance to the fungus without yield penalty. Among these NLR receptors, PigmR confers broad-spectrum resistance, whereas PigmS competitively attenuates PigmR homodimerization to suppress resistance. expression, and thus-mediated resistance, are subjected to tight epigenetic regulation. increases seed production to counteract the yield cost induced by Therefore, our study reveals a mechanism balancing high disease resistance and yield through epigenetic regulation of paired antagonistic NLR receptors, providing a tool to develop elite crop varieties.

DNA methylation dynamics during the interaction of wheat progenitor Aegilops tauschii with the obligate biotrophic fungus Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici

“…Moreover, DNA methylation mediated by 21‐nt siRNAs (Dowen et al ., ) may represent a different mechanism from the RdDM pathway, in which 24‐nt siRNAs play a major role. In rice, treatment with the DNA demethylating agent 5‐azadeoxycytidine enhances resistance to the bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae (Akimoto et al ., ), and epigenetic regulation of antagonistic receptors confers rice blast resistance with yield balance (Deng et al ., ). By contrast, resistance to Pst DC3000 is compromised in the Arabidopsis DNA methylase mutant, ros1‐4 .…”

Deployment of cold tolerance loci from Oryza sativa ssp. Japonica cv. ‘Nipponbare’ in a high‐yielding Indica rice cultivar ‘93‐11’

“…Because high tolerance to abiotic stress has been shown to cause yield penalty under normal conditions due to a growth–tolerance trade‐off (Deng et al., ; Joshi et al., ), we further investigated several yield‐related traits for 93‐11( qCTS11.1&2 NP ) in the field under normal cultivation conditions. Compared with ‘93‐11’, the cold‐tolerant 93‐11( qCTS11.1&2 NP ) line showed no significant differences with respect to panicle number per plant, spikelet number per panicle, seed setting rate, 1,000‐grain weight and total grain yield per plant (Figure b), indicating that introgression of qCTS11.1 and qCTS11.2 does not impose a yield penalty.…”

“…Crop breeding aims to balance stress tolerance with yield, and QTL pyramiding may impact growth fitness due to linkage drag or/and tolerance–growth trade‐offs (Deng et al., ; Joshi et al., ). In this study, pyramiding the qCTS11.1 and qCTS11.2 QTLs from Japonica rice enhanced the cold tolerance of an Indica cultivar with no negative effects on grain yield when grown in the field under normal conditions.…”

Anatomical Observation and Proteomics Analysis of Root Tips of Wild and Cultivated Soybeans

“…In addition, it has known that plant stress response has the association with secondary metabolites or antibiotics metabolism. And there is a balance between stress resistance and growth in plant (Deng et al, 2017). Therefore, downregulated genes related to secondary metabolites and antibiotics metabolism may lead to the faster root growth in cultivated soybean.…”