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

Yiwen Deng; Keran Zhai; Zhen Xie; Dongyong Yang; Xudong Zhu; Junzhong Liu; Xin Wang; Peng Qin; Yuanzhu Yang; Guomin Zhang; Qun Li; Jianfu Zhang; Shuangqing Wu; Joëlle Milazzo; Bizeng Mao; Ertao Wang; Huaan Xie; Didier Tharreau; Zuhua He

doi:10.1126/science.aai8898

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

Science. 2017 Mar 3;355(6328):962-965. doi: 10.1126/science.aai8898. Epub 2017 Feb 2.

Authors

Yiwen Deng¹, Keran Zhai^{1

2}, Zhen Xie³, Dongyong Yang^{1

2}, Xudong Zhu⁴, Junzhong Liu¹, Xin Wang¹, Peng Qin⁵, Yuanzhu Yang⁵, Guomin Zhang⁶, Qun Li¹, Jianfu Zhang⁷, Shuangqing Wu⁸, Joëlle Milazzo⁹, Bizeng Mao³, Ertao Wang¹, Huaan Xie⁷, Didier Tharreau⁹, Zuhua He^{10

3

11}

Affiliations

¹ National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics and National Center of Plant Gene Research, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
² University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
³ College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice and Yahua Seeds Science Academy of Hunan, Changsha, China.
⁶ Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, China.
⁷ Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuzhou, China.
⁸ Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Enshi, China.
⁹ CIRAD (Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement), UMR BGPI (Biologie et Génétique des Interactions Plante-Parasite), Montpellier, France.
¹⁰ National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics and National Center of Plant Gene Research, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China. zhhe@sibs.ac.cn.
¹¹ Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China.

PMID: 28154240
DOI: 10.1126/science.aai8898

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 Pigm locus contains a cluster of genes encoding nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) receptors that confer durable resistance to the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae without yield penalty. Among these NLR receptors, PigmR confers broad-spectrum resistance, whereas PigmS competitively attenuates PigmR homodimerization to suppress resistance. PigmS expression, and thus PigmR-mediated resistance, are subjected to tight epigenetic regulation. PigmS increases seed production to counteract the yield cost induced by PigmR 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.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Breeding
Crops, Agricultural / genetics
Crops, Agricultural / microbiology
DNA Methylation
Disease Resistance / genetics*
Epigenesis, Genetic*
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant*
Genes, Plant*
Genetic Loci
Magnaporthe*
Multigene Family
NLR Proteins / chemistry
NLR Proteins / genetics*
Oryza / genetics
Oryza / microbiology*
Plant Diseases / genetics
Plant Diseases / microbiology*
Protein Multimerization

Substances

NLR Proteins