OsWRKY45 alleles play different roles in abscisic acid signalling and salt stress tolerance but similar roles in drought and cold tolerance in rice

Although allelic diversity of genes has been shown to contribute to many phenotypic variations associated with different physiological processes in plants, information on allelic diversity of abiotic stress-responsive genes is limited. Here it is shown that the alleles OsWRKY45-1 and OsWRKY45-2 play different roles in abscisic acid (ABA) signalling and salt stress adaptation in rice. The two alleles had different transcriptional responses to ABA and salt stresses. OsWRKY45-1-overexpressing lines showed reduced ABA sensitivity, whereas OsWRKY45-1-knockout lines showed increased ABA sensitivity. OsWRKY45-1 transgenic plants showed no obvious difference from negative controls in response to salt stress. In contrast, OsWRKY45-2-overexpressing lines showed increased ABA sensitivity and reduced salt stress tolerance, and OsWRKY45-2-suppressing lines showed reduced ABA sensitivity and increased salt stress tolerance. OsWRKY45-1 and OsWRKY45-2 transgenic plants showed differential expression of a set of ABA- and abiotic stress-responsive genes, but they showed similar responses to cold and drought stresses. These results suggest that OsWRKY45-1 negatively and OsWRKY45-2 positively regulates ABA signalling and, in addition, OsWRKY45-2 but not OsWRKY45-1 negatively regulates rice response to salt stress. The different roles of the two alleles in ABA signalling and salt stress may be due to their transcriptional mediation of different signalling pathways

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Every Coin Has Two Sides: Reactive Oxygen Species during Rice–Magnaporthe oryzae Interaction

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in many important processes, including the growth, development, and responses to the environments, in rice (Oryza sativa) and Magnaporthe oryzae. Although ROS are known to be critical components in rice–M. oryzae interactions, their regulations and pathways have not yet been completely revealed. Recent studies have provided fascinating insights into the intricate physiological redox balance in rice–M. oryzae interactions. In M. oryzae, ROS accumulation is required for the appressorium formation and penetration. However, once inside the rice cells, M. oryzae must scavenge the host-derived ROS to spread invasive hyphae. On the other side, ROS play key roles in rice against M. oryzae. It has been known that, upon perception of M. oryzae, rice plants modulate their activities of ROS generating and scavenging enzymes, mainly on NADPH oxidase OsRbohB, by different signaling pathways to accumulate ROS against rice blast. By contrast, the M. oryzae virulent strains are capable of suppressing ROS accumulation and attenuating rice blast resistance by the secretion of effectors, such as AvrPii and AvrPiz-t. These results suggest that ROS generation and scavenging of ROS are tightly controlled by different pathways in both M. oryzae and rice during rice blast. In this review, the most recent advances in the understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of ROS accumulation and signaling during rice–M. oryzae interaction are summarized

Mediating Characteristics of Adolescent Academic Achievement from Big Data Perspective: Exploration and Application of Data Analysis and Computation

Based on big data, we explored the mediating features of adolescents&#39; academic performance. Using the methods of data analysis and model building, we mined students&#39; personal information, family background, and academic performance. Features such as academic performance were extracted. The model predicted academic performance precisely. The mediating effect analysis results revealed the mediating role of specific features in the model. The results of this study provide information for school management and educational policy-making and help to understand the complex mechanisms of adolescents&#39; academic achievement formation.</p

COPLBI-733; NO OF PAGES 5 Broad-spectrum and durability: understanding of quantitative disease resistance This review comes from a themed issue on Genome studies and molecular genetics -Plant biotechnology Edited

Although quantitative resistance loci provide partial and durable resistance to a range of pathogen species in different crops, the molecular mechanism of quantitative disease resistance has remained largely unknown. Recent advances in characterization of the genes contributing to quantitative disease resistance and plant-pathogen interactions at the molecular level provide clues to the molecular bases of broadspectrum resistance and durable resistance. This emerging knowledge will help in identifying genes involved in quantitative broad-spectrum resistance and durable resistance leading to formulation of efficient ways for using these genetic resources for crop improvement. This knowledge is also turning quantitative resistance genes with minor effects into a productive resource for crop protection via biotechnological approaches

Molecular analyses of the rice tubby-like protein gene family and their response to bacterial infection

Tubby-like protein family has been identified in various multicellular organisms, indicating its fundamental functions in the organisms. However, the roles of plant tubby-like proteins are unknown. In this study, we have defined the tubby-like protein gene (OsTLP) family with 14 members in rice. Most of the OsTLPs harbor a tubby domain in their carboxyl terminus and an F-box domain in the amino terminus. The expression of all the OsTLPs was induced on infection of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, which causes bacterial blight, one of the most devastating diseases of rice worldwide. The maximal expression levels were observed at 2-8 h after infection for all the genes. Eight of the 14 OsTLPs were also responsive to wounding. All the OsTLPs showed differential expression in different tissues at different developmental stages. However, four pairs of the 14 OsTLPs, with each pair having high sequence similarity and distributing on the similar position of different chromosomes, showed similar expression pattern in different tissues, indicating their direct relationship in evolution. These results suggest that the OsTLP family is involved in host-pathogen interaction and it may be also associated with other physiological and developmental activities

MoWhi2 Mediates Mitophagy to Regulate Conidiation and Pathogenesis in <i>Magnaporthe oryzae</i>

Mitophagy refers to the specific process of degrading mitochondria, which is an important physiological process to maintain the balance of mitochondrial quantity and quality in cells. At present, the mechanisms of mitophagy in pathogenic fungi remain unclear. Magnaporthe oryzae (Syn. Pyricularia oryzae), the causal agent of rice blast disease, is responsible for the most serious disease of rice. In M. oryzae, mitophagy occurs in the foot cells and invasive hyphae to promote conidiation and infection. In this study, fluorescent observations and immunoblot analyses showed that general stress response protein MoWhi2 is required for mitophagy in M. oryzae. In addition, the activation of the autophagy, pexophagy and cytoplasm-to-vacuole targeting (CVT) pathway upon nitrogen starvation was determined using the GFP-MoATG8, GFP-SRL and MoAPE1-GFP strains and the ΔMowhi2 mutant in these backgrounds. The results indicated that MoWhi2 is specifically required for mitophagy in M. oryzae. Further studies showed that mitophagy in the foot cells and invasive hyphae of the ΔMowhi2 was interrupted, leading to reduced conidiation and virulence in the ΔMowhi2 mutant. Taken together, we found that MoWhi2 contributes to conidiation and invasive growth by regulating mitophagy in M. oryzae

Recent Progress in Rice Broad-Spectrum Disease Resistance

Rice is one of the most important food crops in the world. However, stable rice production is constrained by various diseases, in particular rice blast, sheath blight, bacterial blight, and virus diseases. Breeding and cultivation of resistant rice varieties is the most effective method to control the infection of pathogens. Exploitation and utilization of the genetic determinants of broad-spectrum resistance represent a desired way to improve the resistance of susceptible rice varieties. Recently, researchers have focused on the identification of rice broad-spectrum disease resistance genes, which include R genes, defense-regulator genes, and quantitative trait loci (QTL) against two or more pathogen species or many isolates of the same pathogen species. The cloning of broad-spectrum disease resistance genes and understanding their underlying mechanisms not only provide new genetic resources for breeding broad-spectrum rice varieties, but also promote the development of new disease resistance breeding strategies, such as editing susceptibility and executor R genes. In this review, the most recent advances in the identification of broad-spectrum disease resistance genes in rice and their application in crop improvement through biotechnology approaches during the past 10 years are summarized