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microRNA-mediated R gene regulation: molecular scabbards for double-edged swords

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Abstract

Plant resistance (R) proteins are immune receptors that recognize pathogen effectors and trigger rapid defense responses, namely effector-triggered immunity. R protein-mediated pathogen resistance is usually race specific. During plant-pathogen coevolution, plant genomes accumulated large numbers of R genes. Even though plant R genes provide important natural resources for breeding disease-resistant crops, their presence in the plant genome comes at a cost. Misregulation of R genes leads to developmental defects, such as stunted growth and reduced fertility. In the past decade, many microRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified to target various R genes in plant genomes. miRNAs reduce R gene levels under normal conditions and allow induction of R gene expression under various stresses. For these reasons, we consider R genes to be double-edged “swords” and miRNAs as molecular “scabbards”. In the present review, we summarize the contributions and potential problems of these “swords” and discuss the features and production of the “scabbards”, as well as the mechanisms used to pull the “sword” from the “scabbard” when needed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91440103, 31600984) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2662014PY008).

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  1. Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Biology (MOE), College of Horticulture and Forestry Sciences, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Yingtian Deng, Minglei Liu, Xiaofei Li & Feng Li

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  1. Yingtian Deng
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  2. Minglei Liu
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  3. Xiaofei Li
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Correspondence to Feng Li.

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Deng, Y., Liu, M., Li, X. et al. microRNA-mediated R gene regulation: molecular scabbards for double-edged swords. Sci. China Life Sci. 61, 138–147 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-017-9237-4

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