Transcriptional Landscape of Pathogen-responsive Lncrnas Reveals OS_LNC1812-Induced Disease Resistance by Abscisic Acid Pathway in Rice

Abstract

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) produced by the plant genome are essential regulators in diverse biological processes. Despite increasing knowledge of lncRNAs in plant development, little is known about responding to plant disease, especially in rice. Results: In this study, we investigated a comprehensive disease-responding lncRNA profiles in rice defence against Rice black-streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) and Rice stripe virus (RSV) for the first time. Analysis of RNA sequencing of rice leaves infected with the two pathogens identified total 1,925 lncRNAs, in which 724 lncRNA were derived from alternative splicing (AS) events and the largest number of lncRNAs produced by intron retention (IR) of AS events. We calculated the regulatory relationship between transcription factors, lncRNAs, and mRNAs by constructing gene regulatory network and found that a lncRNA, OS_LNC1812 regulated by Os01t0730700-01 encoding transcription factor WRKY14 may target abscisic acid (ABA) responsive element binding factor ABF (Os01t0867300-01) involved in ABA signaling pathway during pathogens infection. We subsequently found that highly expression of OS_LNC1812, WRKY14, and ABF after ABA treatment. Conclusions: Our results reveal the common lncRNAs profiles respond to RBSDV and RSV in rice and provide novel potential modulation of lncRNAs in ABA pathway in the regulation of plant disease resistance.