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TAL effector-dependent Bax gene expression in transgenic rice confers disease resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae

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Abstract

The hypersensitive response (HR) is a form of programmed cell death of plant cells occurring in the local region surrounding pathogen infection site to prevent the spread of infection by pathogens. Bax, a mammalian pro-apoptotic member of Bcl-2 family, triggers HR-like cell death when expressed in plants. However, constitutive expression of the Bax gene negatively affects plant growth and development. The Xa10 gene in rice (Oryza sativa) is an executor resistance (R) gene that confers race-specific disease resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae strains harboring TAL effector gene AvrXa10. In this study, the Xa10 promoter was used to regulate heterologous expression of the Bax gene from mouse (Mus musculus) in Nicotiana benthamiana and rice. Cell death was induced in N. benthamiana after co-infiltration with the PXa10:Bax:TXa10 gene and the PPR1:AvrXa10:TNos gene. Transgenic rice plants carrying the PXa10:Bax:TXa10 gene conferred specific disease resistance to Xa10-incompatible X. oryzae pv. oryzae strain PXO99A(pHM1AvrXa10), but not to the Xa10-compatible strain PXO99A(pHM1). The resistance specificity was confirmed by the AvrXa10-dependent induction of the PXa10:Bax:TXa10 gene in transgenic rice. Our results demonstrated that the inducible expression of the Bax gene in transgenic rice was achieved through the control of the executor R gene promoter and the heterologous expression of the pro-apoptosis regulator gene in rice conferred disease resistance to X. oryzae pv. oryzae.

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Abbreviations

HR:

Hypersensitive response

PCD:

Programmed cell death

R :

Resistance

EBE:

Effector binding element

BAX:

Bcl-2-associated X protein

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by intramural research funds from Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory and a fund from the National Research Foundation (NRF), Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore, on the Disruptive & Sustainable Technology for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP).

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  1. Yuejing Gui and Dongsheng Tian have been equally contributed to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, 1 Research Link, Singapore, 117604, Republic of Singapore

    Yuejing Gui, Dongsheng Tian, Kar Hui Ong, Joanne Chin Yi Teo & Zhongchao Yin

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive, Singapore, 117543, Republic of Singapore

    Zhongchao Yin

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  2. Dongsheng Tian
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Contributions

THE authors thank RM for editing the manuscript. DT and ZY designed the experiments. YG, DT, JT and KHO conducted the experiments. YG, DT, JT and ZY wrote the article. All authors read and approved the article for publication.

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Correspondence to Zhongchao Yin.

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Gui, Y., Tian, D., Ong, K.H. et al. TAL effector-dependent Bax gene expression in transgenic rice confers disease resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. Transgenic Res 31, 119–130 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-021-00290-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-021-00290-7

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