AUTHOR=Li Yanyun , Liao Shuting , Mei Pengying , Pan Yueyun , Zhang Yu , Zheng Xiangzi , Xie Yakun , Miao Ying 

TITLE=OsWRKY93 Dually Functions Between Leaf Senescence and in Response to Biotic Stress in Rice

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2021.643011

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2021.643011

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Cross talking between natural senescence and cell death in response to pathogen attack is an interesting topic; however, its action mechanism is kept open. In this study, 33 <italic>OsWRKY</italic> genes were obtained by screening with leaf aging procedure through RNA-seq dataset, and 11 of them were confirmed a significant altered expression level in the flag leaves during aging by using the reverse transcript quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). Among them, the <italic>OsWRKY2</italic>, <italic>OsWRKY14</italic>, <italic>OsWRKY26</italic>, <italic>OsWRKY69</italic>, and <italic>OsWRKY93</italic> members exhibited short-term alteration in transcriptional levels in response to <italic>Magnaporthe grisea</italic> infection. The CRISPR/Cas9-edited mutants of five genes were developed and confirmed, and a significant sensitivity to <italic>M. oryzae</italic> infection was observed in <italic>CRISPR OsWRKY93-edited</italic> lines; on the other hand, a significant resistance to <italic>M. oryzae</italic> infection was shown in the enhanced expression <italic>OsWRKY93</italic> plants compared to mock plants; however, enhanced expression of other four genes have no significant affection. Interestingly, ROS accumulation was also increased in <italic>OsWRKY93</italic> enhanced plants after flg22 treatment, compared with the controls, suggesting that <italic>OsWRKY93</italic> is involved in PAMP-triggered immune response in rice. It indicated that <italic>OsWRKY93</italic> was involved in both flag leaf senescence and in response to fungi attack.</p>