Inducible overexpression of Ideal Plant Architecture1 improves both yield and disease resistance in rice

First author: Mingming Liu; Affiliations: Nanjing Agricultural University (南京农业大学): Nanjing, China

Corresponding author: Dong-Lei Yang

Breeding crops with resistance is an efficient way to control diseases. However, increased resistance often has a fitness penalty (惩罚). Thus, simultaneously increasing disease resistance and yield potential is a challenge in crop breeding. In this study, we found that downregulation of microRNA-156 (miR-156) and overexpression of Ideal Plant Architecture1 (IPA1) and OsSPL7, two target genes of miR-156, enhanced disease resistance against bacterial blight caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), but reduced rice yield. We discovered that gibberellin signalling might be partially responsible for the disease resistance and developmental defects in IPA1 overexpressors. We then generated transgenic rice plants expressing IPA1 with the pathogen-inducible promoter of OsHEN1; these plants had both enhanced disease resistance and enhanced yield-related traits. Thus, we have identified miR-156–IPA1 as a novel regulator of the crosstalk between growth and defence, and we have established a new strategy for obtaining both high disease resistance and high yield.

抗性育种是控制作物疾病的有效方法。然而，抗性的增强往往会牺牲作物的生长性状。因此，在作物育种中同时增加抗性和提升产量是非常困难的一项工作。本文中，作者发现下调miR-156和过表达miR-156的两个靶基因IPA1和OsSPL7能够增强作者对于由水稻白叶枯病菌引起的疾病抗性，但同时也会降低产量。作者发现在IPA1过表达株系中，赤霉素信号通路可能在植株的抗性增强和发育缺陷中发挥了作用。作者用病原菌诱导基因OsHEN1的启动子加IPA1基因构建了新的转基因水稻株系。新的转基因株系疾病抗性得到了增强，同时产量相关的性状也得到了提升。因此，作者鉴定了水稻中的miR-156–IPA1模块作为植物生长和抗性间平衡的调控因子，并且作者建立起了一套新的策略用以同时增强作物的疾病抗性和产量。

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-019-0383-2

Journal: Nature Plants

Published date: March 18, 2019