Characterization of Disease Resistance against Rice Blast and Bacterial Leaf Blight in Transgenic Rice Plants with RIP Genes with mALS Vector Cassettes.

Abstract

Rice blast and bacterial leaf blight disease caused serious damage to the harvest and quality of rice crops. Ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) are antifungal proteins commonly found in the most of plant species. We had found the introduction of rye RIP gene confer the resistance in rice to rice blast disease. In this report, we made modified acetolactate synthase gene (mALS) vector cassettes which contained a rye RIP cDNA under control of a leaf-specific E0082 promoter. We introduced it into a rice cultivar "Dontokoi". T₁ plants obtained from transgenic plants were inoculated with rice blast pathogen (Magnaporthe grisea). Some of transgenic lines showed strong resistance against the pathogen. These transgenic plants also suppressed the development of disease symptoms of bacterial blight pathogen (Xanthomonas campestris pv. oryzae). These results indicated that the introduced RIP genes enhanced the resistance against bacterial as well as fungal pathogens.