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Published on: January 3, 2025
OsMADS26 Negatively Regulates Resistance to Pathogens and Drought Tolerance in Rice
Giang Ngan Khong1, Pratap Kumar Pati1, Frédérique Richaud1
1Université de Montpellier, Unité Mixte de Recherche Diversité, Adaptation, et Développement des Plantes, 34095 Montpellier cedex 5, France (G.N.K., I.B., P.G.);Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, Unité Mixte de Recherche Amélioration Génétique et Adaptation des Plantes Méditerranéennes et Tropicales, 34398 Montpellier cedex 5, France (G.N.K., P.K.P., F.R., M.B., D.M., E.G.);Department of Biotechnology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar 143 005, India (P.K.P.);Department of Plant Systems Biology, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium (B.P., T.B.);Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium (B.P., T.B.);Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Unité Mixte de Recherche Biologie et Génétique des Interactions Plante-Parasite, 34398 Montpellier, France (P.B., J.-B.M.);Laboratoire Mixte International Rice Functional Genomics and Plant Biotechnology, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, University of Science and Technology of Hanoi, Agricultural Genetics Institute, 00 000 Hanoi, Vietnam (C.D.M., V.N.D., P.G.);International Center for Tropical Agriculture, 6713 Cali, Colombia (M.G.S., I.M.);Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Institute of Agricultural Biology and Biotechnology, 20133 Milan, Italy (A.-M.G.); andInstitut de Recherche pour le Développement, Unité Mixte de Recherche Interactions Plantes Microorganismes et Environnement, 34398 Montpellier cedex, France (C.B.).
Abstract:
Functional analyses of MADS-box transcription factors in plants have unraveled their role in major developmental programs (e.g. flowering and floral organ identity) as well as stress-related developmental processes, such as abscission, fruit ripening, and senescence. Overexpression of the rice (Oryza sativa) MADS26 gene in rice has revealed a possible function related to stress response. Here, we show that OsMADS26-down-regulated plants exhibit enhanced resistance against two major rice pathogens: Magnaporthe oryzae and Xanthomonas oryzae. Despite this enhanced resistance to biotic stresses, OsMADS26-down-regulated plants also displayed enhanced tolerance to water deficit. These phenotypes were observed in both controlled and field conditions. Interestingly, alteration of OsMADS26 expression does not have a strong impact on plant development. Gene expression profiling revealed that a majority of genes misregulated in overexpresser and down-regulated OsMADS26 lines compared with control plants are associated to biotic or abiotic stress response. Altogether, our data indicate that OsMADS26 acts as an upstream regulator of stress-associated genes and thereby, a hub to modulate the response to various stresses in the rice plant.
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