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GPMB 2025

Rhomboid-mediated cleavage of the immune receptor xa21 protects grain set and male fertility in rice

Wen Yuan Song, Speaker at Plant Biology Conferences
University of Florida, United States
Title : Rhomboid-mediated cleavage of the immune receptor xa21 protects grain set and male fertility in rice

Abstract:

To maintain growth and to successfully reproduce, organisms must protect key functions in specific tissues, particularly when countering pathogen invasion using internal defensive proteins that may disrupt their own developmental processes. The rice immune receptor XA21 confers race-specific resistance against Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), which causes the deadly disease bacterial leaf blight. Here, we demonstrate that XA21 is cleaved by the rhomboid-like protease OsRBL3b, likely within its transmembrane domain. OsRBL3b mRNA transcripts are preferentially expressed in rice spikelets. Rice plants expressing Xa21 but lacking a functional OsRBL3b displayed impaired anther dehiscence and pollen viability, resulting in male sterility and yield reduction with high levels of XA21 protein present in spikelets during anthesis. In leaves, osrbl3b mutants expressing XA21 had normal levels of this resistance protein and disease immunity. This balance between reproduction and disease resistance through the specific expression of a rhomboid protease may be key to limiting the detrimental effects of an active immune response and may be useful in future for genetic improvement of crops.

Biography:

Dr. Song studied Molecular Genetics and Plant Pathology at the Institute of Genetics, Academia Sinica, Beijing, China (Prof. Lihuang Zhu lab) and at the University of California-Davis, USA (Prof. Pamela Ronald lab) in early 1990s and received his Ph.D. degree in 1994 at the Institute of Genetics, Academia Sinica. After four years postdoctoral fellowship supervised by Dr. Pamela Ronald at the University of California- Davis, Dr. Song joined the faculty of the Department of Plant Pathology, University of Florida in 1999. He has published 39 research articles in various scientific journals. According to Google Scholar, his publications have been cited over 7,000 times by researchers all over the world.

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