Molecular mechanisms of trade-offs in disease resistance of rice

Abstract

Plants are continuously exposed to deleterious biotic and abiotic stresses. In rice, WRKY45 is a crucial transcription factor in the salicylic acid defense signaling pathway, on which several chemical-defense inducers act. We have developed transgenic rice lines using WRKY45 that are resistant to multiple diseases, and during that work, found that the extremely strong disease resistance that results from the overexpression of WRKY45 renders rice hypersensitive to low temperature and high salinity due to antagonistic crosstalk of defense signaling against abiotic stress signaling. Here, we introduce molecular mechanisms underlying the trade-off between disease resistance and abiotic stress responses, highlighting strategies involving crosstalk between signaling pathways.