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Function and evolution of Magnaporthe oryzae avirulence gene AvrPib responding to the rice blast resistance gene Pib

Shulin Zhang1, Ling Wang1, Weihuai Wu2

  • 1State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agrobioresurces, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for Microbe Signals and Crop Disease Control, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China.

Scientific Reports
|June 26, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Magnaporthe oryzae

Area of Science:

  • Plant Pathology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Magnaporthe oryzae causes rice blast, a devastating plant disease.
  • The AvrPib effector gene confers avirulence in rice plants with the Pib resistance gene.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the genetic diversity and evolution of the AvrPib gene in Magnaporthe oryzae populations.
  • To understand the mechanisms of virulence evolution in rice blast pathogen.

Main Methods:

  • Map-based cloning of the AvrPib gene.
  • Phenotypic and genotypic analysis of 60 Magnaporthe oryzae isolates from five distinct Chinese populations.
  • Resequencing of the AvrPib allele in 108 diverse isolates.
  • Reconstruction of 16 AvrPib alleles.

Main Results:

  • AvrPib gene diversity and virulence frequency increased from northeastern to southern China, indicating host-driven selection.
  • Four major pathways (transposable element insertion, segmental deletion, complete absence, point mutation) lead to loss of AvrPib avirulence function, with TE insertion being the most frequent (81.7%).
  • Deletions and functional point mutations were localized to the signal peptide region of the AvrPib protein.

Conclusions:

  • Host-driven selection shapes the evolution of Magnaporthe oryzae virulence.
  • Multiple genetic mechanisms contribute to the loss of AvrPib function, facilitating pathogen adaptation.
  • The evolution of virulence mechanisms in Magnaporthe oryzae is linked to host specialization.

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