AUTHOR=Xu Yunjian , Liu Fang , Zhu Suwen , Li Xiaoyu 

TITLE=The Maize NBS-LRR Gene ZmNBS25 Enhances Disease Resistance in Rice and Arabidopsis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.01033

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2018.01033

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Nucleotide-binding site-leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) domain proteins are immune sensors and play critical roles in plant disease resistance. In this study, we cloned and characterized a novel NBS-LRR gene <italic>ZmNBS25</italic> in maize. We found that <italic>ZmNBS25</italic> could response to pathogen inoculation and salicylic acid (SA) treatment in maize, and transient overexpression of <italic>ZmNBS25</italic> induced a hypersensitive response in tobacco. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis showed that, compared to control plants, <italic>ZmNBS25</italic> overexpression (<italic>ZmNBS25</italic>-OE) in Arabidopsis and rice resulted in higher SA levels. By triggering the expression of certain defense-responsive genes, <italic>ZmNBS25</italic>-OE enhanced the resistance of Arabidopsis and rice to <italic>Pseudomonas syringae</italic> pv. <italic>tomato</italic> DC3000 and sheath blight disease, respectively. Moreover, we found little change of grain size and 1000-grain weight between <italic>ZmNBS25</italic>-OE rice lines and controls. Together, our results suggest that <italic>ZmNBS25</italic> can function as a disease resistance gene across different species, being a valuable candidate for engineering resistance in breeding programs.</p>