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Pectin induced transcriptome of a Rhizoctonia solani strain causing sheath blight disease in rice reveals insights on key genes and RNAi machinery for development of pathogen derived resistance

Plant Molecular Biology volume 100, pages 59–71 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Key message

RNAi mediated silencing of pectin degrading enzyme of R. solani gives a high level of resistance against sheath blight disease of rice.

Abstract

Rice sheath blight disease caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn (telemorph; Thanatephorus cucumeris) is one of the most devastating fungal diseases which cause severe loss to rice grain production. In the absence of resistant cultivars, the disease is currently managed through fungicides which add to environmental pollution. To explore the potential of utilizing RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated resistance against sheath blight disease, we identified genes encoding proteins and enzymes involved in the RNAi pathway in this fungal pathogen. The RNAi target genes were deciphered by RNAseq analysis of a highly virulent strain of the R. solani grown in pectin medium. Additionally, pectin metabolism associated genes of R. solani were analyzed through transcriptome sequencing of infected rice tissues obtained from six diverse rice cultivars. One of the key candidate gene AG1IA_04727 encoding polygalacturonase (PG), which was observed to be significantly upregulated during infection, was targeted through RNAi to develop disease resistance. Stable expression of PG-RNAi construct in rice showed efficient silencing of AG1IA_04727 and suppression of sheath blight disease. This study highlights important information about the existence of RNAi machinery and key genes of R. solani which can be targeted through RNAi to develop pathogen-derived resistance, thus opening an alternative strategy for developing sheath blight-resistant rice cultivars.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful to the Director, ICAR-IIRR, for his kind support. Financial support received from DBT Grant (BT/PR6466/COE/34/16/2012) is acknowledged. We are also grateful to anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions to improve this manuscript. TBR is thankful to Prof. Krishna Satya and Prof. Sudhakar, Biotechnology Division, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, (A.P) for the guidance and support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research, 500030, Hyderabad, India

    Talluri Bhaskar Rao, Ramakrishna Chopperla, Ramesh Methre, E. Punniakotti, V. Venkatesh, B. Sailaja, M. Raghurami Reddy, Arra Yugander, G. S. Laha, M. Sheshu Madhav, R. M. Sundaram, D. Ladhalakshmi, S. M. Balachandran & Satendra K. Mangrauthia

  2. College of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bheemarayan gudi, Raichur, India

    Ramesh Methre

  3. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, India

    B. Sailaja

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  1. Talluri Bhaskar Rao
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  2. Ramakrishna Chopperla
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  3. Ramesh Methre
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  4. E. Punniakotti
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  5. V. Venkatesh
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  14. Satendra K. Mangrauthia
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Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: SKM, TBR, and SMB. Performed the experiments: TBR, RC, RM, EP, VV, BS, MRR, AY, GSL, SKM, and DL. Analysis of data: SKM, TBR, RM, RC, MSM, and RMS. Wrote the article: SKM, TBR, SMB, RMS, GSL, and MSM.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Satendra K. Mangrauthia.

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Supplementary material 1 (JPG 61 KB)

Supplementary material 2 (DOCX 10 KB)

Gene Ontology (GO) analysis of Rhizotonia solani AG1 IA transcripts (XLS 2192 KB)

11103_2019_843_MOESM4_ESM.xls

Classification of Rhizotonia solani AG1 IA transcripts into various functions such as enzymes, carbohydrate active enzyme family, transcription factors, transporters, ABC family of transporters, secretary proteins, and cytochrome P450 family proteins etc (XLS 2257 KB)

List of degradation associated transcripts of Rhizotonia solani AG1 IA and their GO analysis (XLS 2686 KB)

Supplementary material 6 (XLS 50 KB)

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Rao, T.B., Chopperla, R., Methre, R. et al. Pectin induced transcriptome of a Rhizoctonia solani strain causing sheath blight disease in rice reveals insights on key genes and RNAi machinery for development of pathogen derived resistance. Plant Mol Biol 100, 59–71 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-019-00843-9

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Keywords

  • Oryza sativa
  • Polygalacturonase
  • Transgenic
  • RNAseq
  • Silencing

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