title: Rice Xa21 primed genes and pathways that are critical for combating bacterial blight infection.
abstract: Rice bacterial blight (BB) is a devastating rice disease. The Xa21 gene confers a broad and persistent resistance against BB. We introduced Xa21 into Oryza sativa L ssp indica (rice 9311), through multi-generation backcrossing, and generated a nearly isogenic, blight-resistant 9311/Xa21 rice. Using next-generation sequencing, we profiled the transcriptomes of both varieties before and within four days after infection of bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. The identified differentially expressed (DE) genes and signaling pathways revealed insights into the functions of Xa21. Surprisingly, before infection 1,889 genes on 135 of the 316 signaling pathways were DE between the 9311/Xa21 and 9311 plants. These Xa21-mediated basal pathways included mainly those related to the basic material and energy metabolisms and many related to phytohormones such as cytokinin, suggesting that Xa21 triggered redistribution of energy, phytohormones and resources among essential cellular activities before invasion. Counter-intuitively, after infection, the DE genes between the two plants were only one third of that before the infection; other than a few stress-related pathways, the affected pathways after infection constituted a small subset of the Xa21-mediated basal pathways. These results suggested that Xa21 primed critically important genes and signaling pathways, enhancing its resistance against bacterial infection.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Systems Biology, Jianghan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430056, China.
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: 1] Institute for Systems Biology, Jianghan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430056, China [2] Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Systems Biology, Jianghan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430056, China.
authors.forename: Zhiwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Systems Biology, Jianghan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430056, China.
authors.forename: Junfei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Hainan Key Laboratory for Sustainable Utilization of Tropical Bioresources, Institute of BioScience and Technology, College of Agriculture, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China.
authors.forename: Zhihui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Institute for Systems Biology, Jianghan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430056, China.
authors.forename: Lifen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Institute for Systems Biology, Jianghan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430056, China.
authors.forename: Lihong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Systems Biology, Jianghan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430056, China.
authors.forename: Lili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute for Systems Biology, Jianghan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430056, China.
authors.forename: Tiantian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Wenxue
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.affiliation: 1] Institute for Systems Biology, Jianghan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430056, China [2] Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA [3] Department of Genetics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA.
authors.forename: Weixiong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003583:Cytokinins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D060467:Disease Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology*; D010641:Phenotype; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology*; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000378:metabolism; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013997:Time Factors; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D003583:Cytokinins; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D010940:Plant Proteins; C097148:Xa21 protein, Oryza sativa; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases