Novel crosstalk between ethylene- and jasmonic acid-pathway responses to a piercing-sucking insect in rice

Ethylene (ET) and jasmonic acid (JA) play important roles in plant defenses against biotic stresses. Crosstalk between JA and ET has been well studied in mediating pathogen resistance, but its roles in piercing-sucking insect resistance are unclear. The brown planthopper (BPH; Nilaparvata lugens) is the most notorious piercing-sucking insect specific to rice (Oryza sativa) that severely affects yield. A genetic analysis revealed that OsEBF1 and OsEIL1, which are in the ET signaling pathway, positively and negatively regulated BPH resistance, respectively. Molecular and biochemical analyses revealed direct interactions between OsEBF1 and OsEIL1. OsEBF1, an E3 ligase, mediated the degradation of OsEIL1 through the ubiquitination pathway, indicating the negative regulation of the ET-signaling pathway in response to BPH infestation. An RNA sequencing analysis revealed that a JA biosynthetic pathway-related gene, OsLOX9, was downregulated significantly in the oseil1 mutant. Biochemical analyses, including yeast one-hybrid, dual luciferase, and electrophoretic mobility shift assay, confirmed the direct regulation of OsLOX9 by OsEIL1. This study revealed the synergistic and negative regulation of JA and ET pathways in response to piercing-sucking insect attack. The synergistic mechanism was realized by transcriptional regulation of OsEIL1 on OsLOX9. OsEIL1-OsLOX9 is a novel crosstalk site in these two phytohormone signaling pathways.