A Natural Allele of Proteasome Maturation Factor Improves Rice Resistance to Multiple Pathogens
Published:16 Feb.2023 Source:Nature Plants
Crops with broad-spectrum resistance loci are highly desirable in agricultural production because these loci often confer resistance to most races of a pathogen or multiple pathogen species. Here we discover a natural allele of proteasome maturation factor in rice, UMP1R2115, that confers broad-spectrum resistance to Magnaporthe oryzae, Rhizoctonia solani, Ustilaginoidea virens and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. Mechanistically, this allele increases proteasome abundance and activity to promote the degradation of reactive oxygen species-scavenging enzymes including peroxidase and catalase upon pathogen infection, leading to elevation of H2O2 accumulation for defence.
In contrast, inhibition of proteasome function or overexpression of peroxidase/catalase-encoding genes compromises UMP1R2115-mediated resistance. More importantly, introduction of UMP1R2115 into a disease-susceptible rice variety does not penalize grain yield while promoting disease resistance. Our work thus uncovers a broad-spectrum resistance pathway integrating de-repression of plant immunity and provides a valuable genetic resource for breeding high-yield rice with multi-disease resistance.