Rice gene shuttles its own disease-fighting chemical to work
Wang R, Bie X, Xu S, Li L, Li P
Crop Improvement
Bacterial blight can wipe out rice paddies worldwide, so finding a gene that strengthens the plant's natural defenses points toward hardier rice varieties without extra chemical sprays.
Rice plants make their own chemical weapon called DKC to fight off a nasty bacterial disease, but that weapon only works if it gets moved to the right place inside plant cells. Researchers found the exact protein, named OsPDR17, that does this moving job, located inside the chloroplast, the plant's solar-powered factory. When they removed the gene for this protein, rice made less of the chemical weapon and got sicker from bacterial blight; when they boosted the gene, rice fought the disease better.
Key Findings
OsPDR17 is an ABCG transporter localized to the chloroplast membrane that moves the phytoalexin DKC (5,10-diketo-casbene), a key defense compound against bacterial blight.
CRISPR/Cas9 knockout of OsPDR17 reduced DKC accumulation, suppressed DKC biosynthetic gene expression, and weakened rice resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae; overexpression had the opposite effect.
A single amino acid residue, D1149, was identified as essential for OsPDR17-DKC interaction, and the transcription factor WRKY10 was found to potentially regulate OsPDR17 expression as part of a feedback loop.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists discovered the protein that moves a natural antibacterial compound inside rice plants, and boosting that protein makes rice better at fighting off bacterial blight, a devastating crop disease.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
The ABCG transporter OsPDR17 mediates transport of 5,10-diketo-casbene and enhances disease resistance in rice.
Compound 5,10-diketo-casbene (DKC) is a key macrocyclic diterpenoid phytoalexin contributing to rice resistance against bacterial blight. Although its activity depends on transmembrane transport, t...
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