Hongbing Li, Tariq Mahmood, Ginny Antony, Nanyan Lu, Mike Pumphreys, Bikram Gill ,Zhensheng Kang , Frank F. White, Jianfa Bai The non-host pathogen Puccinia triticina elicits an active transcriptional response in rice

Hongbing Li, Tariq Mahmood, Ginny Antony, Nanyan Lu, Mike Pumphreys, Bikram Gill ,Zhensheng Kang , Frank F. White, Jianfa Bai

The non-host pathogen Puccinia triticina elicits an active transcriptional response in rice

Eur J Plant Pathol  

DOI 10.1007/s10658-016-1025-4

Abstract: Rice(OryzasativaL.)isnotsusceptibletorust fungi, including the wheat leaf rust fungus Puccinia triticina. Upon inoculation with P. triticina spores, infection hyphae and appressoria were observed on the leaf surfaces of the rice cultivar Nipponbare. The cultivar responded to the inoculation with brown discoloration of the local tissue and fragmentation of rust infection hyphae and appressoria. A microarray gene-expression analysis of the host transcriptional response was performed 24 h after inoculation, revealing rice genes that were up- or down-regulated following the interaction. In particular, the loci represented by five probe sets (Os.55776.1. S1_x_at, Os.55647.1. A1_at, Os.55776.1. S1_at, OsAffx.10944.1. S1_x_at, and Affx.10944.1.S1_at) displayed the highest increase in gene expression compared to the control inoculation. The probe sets included member softhereceptor-likekinasefamily(RLK)that occurs within a cluster of RLK genes on chromosome 1. Other RLK genes, within the RLK gene cluster and at another location, also showed increases in gene expression after P. triticina inoculation. The RLK genes variedinresponsetochallenges withdifferentruststrains or when challenged with several non-rust wheat pathogens that are also non-pathogenic to rice. The results indicate that rice has an active transcriptional and possible defense priming reaction in response to P. Triticina and other non-host fungal pathogens.