Loss of function of a rice TPR-domain RNA-binding protein confers broad-spectrum disease resistance

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 115; no. 12; pp. 3174 - 3179
• Main Authors: Zhou, Xiaogang, Liao, Haicheng, Chern, Mawsheng, Yin, Junjie, Chen, Yufei, Wang, Jianping, Zhu, Xiaobo, Chen, Zhixiong, Yuan, Can, Zhao, Wen, Wang, Jing, Li, Weitao, He, Min, Ma, Bingtian, Wang, Jichun, Qin, Peng, Chen, Weilan, Wang, Yuping, Liu, Jiali, Qian, Yangwen, Wang, Wenming, Wu, Xianjun, Li, Ping, Zhu, Lihuang, Li, Shigui, Ronald, Pamela C., Chen, Xuewei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 20.03.2018
• Series: From the Cover
• Subjects: Agronomy; Biological Sciences; Cloning; Crops; Cytoplasm - metabolism; Disease control; Disease resistance; Disease Resistance - genetics; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Genes; Infectious diseases; K1 gene; Loci; Magnaporthe - pathogenicity; Mutation; Oryza - genetics; Oryza - microbiology; Oryza - physiology; Pathogens; Plant breeding; Plant Diseases - genetics; Plant Diseases - microbiology; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Plants, Genetically Modified - genetics; Protein Domains; Proteins; Repetitive Sequences, Amino Acid; Ribonucleic acid; Rice; RNA; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; RNA-binding protein; RNA-Binding Proteins - genetics; RNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Xanthomonas - pathogenicity; broad-spectrum resistance; blast disease; innate immunity; rice; TPR protein
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1705927115

Crops carrying broad-spectrum resistance loci provide an effective strategy for controlling infectious disease because these loci typically confer resistance to diverse races of a pathogen or even multiple species of pathogens. Despite their importance, only a few crop broad-spectrum resistance loci have been reported. Here, we report the identification and characterization of the rice bsr-k1 (broad-spectrum resistance Kitaake-1) mutant, which confers broad-spectrum resistance against Magnaporthe oryzae and Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae with no major penalty on key agronomic traits. Map-based cloning reveals that Bsr-k1 encodes a tetratricopeptide repeats (TPRs)-containing protein, which binds to mRNAs of multiple OsPAL (OsPAL1–7) genes and promotes their turnover. Loss of function of the Bsr-k1 gene leads to accumulation of OsPAL1–7 mRNAs in the bsr-k1 mutant. Furthermore, overexpression of OsPAL1 in wild-type rice TP309 confers resistance to M. oryzae, supporting the role of OsPAL1. Our discovery of the bsr-k1 allele constitutes a significant conceptual advancement and provides a valuable tool for breeding broad-spectrum resistant rice.