Transcriptome Analysis and Functional Identification of Xa13 and Pi-ta Orthologs in Oryza granulata

Abstract

Nees & Arn. ex Watt, a perennial wild rice species with a GG genome, preserves many important genes for cultivated rice ( L.) improvement. At present, however, no genetic resource is available for studying . Here, we report 91,562 high-quality transcripts of assembled de novo. Moreover, comparative transcriptome analysis revealed that 1311 single-copy orthologous pairs shared by and (Zoll. & Moritzi) Baill. that may have undergone adaptive evolution. We performed an analysis of the genes potentially involved in plant–pathogen interactions to explore the molecular basis of disease resistance, and isolated the full-length cDNAs of () and () orthologs from . The overexpression of in Nipponbare and functional characterization showed enhanced the resistance of transgenic Nipponbare to rice blast resulting from the presence of the gene. , an alternatively spliced transcript of the blast resistance gene in encodes a 1024-amino acid polypeptide with a C-terminal thioredoxin domain. This study provides an important resource for functional and evolutionary studies of the genus .