Rice miR1432 Fine-Tunes The Balance of Yield and Blast Disease Resistance Via Different Modules

Abstract

microRNAs act as fine-tuners in the regulation of plant growth and resistance against biotic and abiotic stress. Here we demonstrate that rice miR1432 fine-tunes yield and blast disease resistance via different modules. The expression of miR1432 is differentially regulated in the susceptible and resistance accessions by the infection of the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. Overexpression of miR1432 leads to compromised resistance and decreased yield, whereas blocking miR1432 using a target mimic of miR1432 results in enhanced resistance and yield. Moreover, miR1432 suppresses the expression of LOC_Os03g59790, which encodes an EF-hand family protein 1 (OsEFH1). Overexpression of OsEFH1 leads to enhanced rice resistance but decreased grain yield. Consistently, blocking miR1432 or overexpression of OsEFH1 improves pathogen/microbe-associated molecular pattern- triggered immunity. In contrast, overexpression of ACOT, a previously identified target gene of miR1432 involved in the regulation of rice yield traits, has no significant effects on rice blast disease resistance. Altogether, these results indicate that miR1432 balances yield and resistance via different target genes, and blocking miR1432 can simultaneously improve yield and resistance.

R gene triplication confers European fodder turnip with improved clubroot resistance

“…The above information clearly shows that ECD04 genome may greatly help to reconcile different names used for the same genes and fundamentally rectify the confusion. Previous research has demonstrated that the enhancement of crop disease resistance might be at the cost of crop yield (Brown, 2003; Buschges et al ., 1997; Denance et al ., 2013; Deng et al ., 2017; Gao et al ., 2021; Tian et al ., 2003), but no apparent negative relationship was observed between disease resistance and plant growth or development due to different balance mechanisms (Chandran et al ., 2018; Cui et al ., 2020; Deng et al ., 2017; Li et al ., 2021; Ning et al ., 2017). In addition, as for ECD04 with 15 CR loci but exhibiting no obvious yield loss when acquiring the resistance trait, it remains to be clarified whether this is a new mechanism that coordinates the balance between resistance and growth in ECD04.…”

Rapid sequence and functional diversification of a miRNA superfamily targeting calcium signaling components in seed plants

“…It is worth noting that although both studies involved transgenic manipulation of miR1432, neither has considered the putative ACA targets, most likely due to a target search effort focusing exclusively on coding sequences. A role for the miR1432‐CML regulatory module in rice immunity was further supported by directly manipulating the expression of the miR1432‐targeted CML, with higher levels of CML expression associated with an enhanced disease resistance (Li et al ., 2021). We noticed that evidence for OsACOT (acyl‐CoA thioesterase) being a miR1432 target, as presented in Zhao et al .…”

“…6), a member of the proposed miR391 superfamily. Although the functional significance for the emergence of dual‐targeting miR1432 in Poaceae remains to be examined, two recent reports collectively showed an important regulatory role for rice miR1432 in both grain development and defense response to the fungal pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae (Zhao et al ., 2019; Li et al ., 2021). It is worth noting that although both studies involved transgenic manipulation of miR1432, neither has considered the putative ACA targets, most likely due to a target search effort focusing exclusively on coding sequences.…”

Osa‐miR160a confers broad‐spectrum resistance to fungal and bacterial pathogens in rice

“…A series of miRNAs have been characterized as immune regulators in rice in response to multiple pathogens (Li et al ., 2014; Lian et al ., 2016; Lin et al ., 2016; W. Q. Li et al ., 2018; Jia et al ., 2020). For example, 13 miRNAs act as negative regulators of rice blast disease resistance, including miR156 (Zhang et al ., 2020), miR164a (Z. Wang et al ., 2018), miR167d (Zhao et al ., 2020), miR168 (Wang et al ., 2021), miR169 (Y. Li et al ., 2017), miR1871 (Li et al ., 2022a), miR1873 (Zhou et al ., 2020), miR319 (Zhang et al ., 2018), miR439 (Lu et al ., 2021), miR1432 (Li et al ., 2021b), miR396 (Chandran et al ., 2018), miR530 (Li et al ., 2021a) and miR535 (Zhang et al ., 2022). By contrast, seven miRNAs play a positive role in rice immunity against M. oryzae by suppressing their target genes, including miR7695 (Campo et al ., 2013), miR166h‐166k (Salvador‐Guirao et al ., 2018), miR398b (Y. Li et al ., 2019), miR162a (Li et al ., 2020), miR159a (Chen et al ., 2021), miR171b (Li et al ., 2022b) and miR812w (Campo et al ., 2021).…”