Overexpression a “fruit-weight 2.2-like” gene OsFWL5 improves rice resistance

Abstract

Background: Rice (Oryza sativa) feeds half of the world’s population. Rice grain yield and quality which are constrained by diseases and mineral nutritions have important human healthy impacts. Plant “fruit-weight 2.2-like” (FWL) genes play key roles in modulating plant fruit weight, organ size and iron distribution. Previous work has uncovered that the grains of OsFWL5-oeverexpressing rice accumulated more beneficial element zinc (Zn) and less toxic element cadmium (Cd) content. However, whether FWL genes play roles in rice resistance remains unknown. Findings: Here, we validated that one of rice FWL genes OsFWL5 plays a positive role in defense to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo). Overexpresion of OsFWL5 promotes H2O2 accumulation and cell death. The OsFWL5-overexpresing plants show activated flg22-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and increased resistance to Xoo, indicating that OsFWL5 functions to increase pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP)-triggered immunity in rice. The activated defense response is associated with increased the expression of genes involved in jasmonic acid (JA)-related signaling. Furthermore, Cd can induce rice resistance to Xoo, and OsFWL5 is required for Cd-induced rice defense response. Conclusion: Putting our finds and previous work together, OsFWL5 could be a candiate gene for breeders to genetically improve rice resistance and grain quality.