National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) in collaboration with Okayama University, have revealed that strong activation of the BSR1 (Broad-Spectrum Resistance 1) rice gene aids in disease prevention along with suppression of growth of leaf-eating insect pests (larvae of the Mythimna loreyi). This research result will contribute to the development of new pest control technologies which enables the crop to be more resistant to both pathogens and pests.
Overview
Agricultural crops are not only susceptible to diseases caused by various pathogens, but also, they are subjected to nutrient suction and leaf feeding damage by pests. These external enemies can be controlled by variety of chemical pesticides such as fungicides, insecticides, etc. Hence in order to reduce the amount of chemical pesticides used, new control technologies that are effective against both pathogens and pests are required.
NARO in collaboration with other institutes have been researching disease resistance genes that protect rice from pathogens. In 2010, a rice gene BSR1 which exhibited the disease resistance against four types of pathogens, including rice blast fungus was discovered, and have been investigating its functionality. In February 2023, it was revealed that when this BSR1 gene was introduced into sugarcane, tomatoes, and torenia using genetic modification technology and by strong activating them, the plants exhibited resistance to pathogenic bacteria.
NARO, in collaboration with Okayama University, The University of Tokyo, and Tokyo University of Science have revealed that by strong activation of the BSR1 rice gene using genetic modification technology, resistance to leaf-eating insect pests (larvae of Mythimna loreyi) increases and this mechanism involved an antibacterial compound produced by rice. Single gene conferring enhanced resistance to a wide range of external enemies such as pathogens and pests is really rare. This discovery is thought to be a clue to the development of new pest control technologies.
In the future, it is expected that by elucidating the mechanism of action of the BSR1 gene and by developing technology that strengthens the function of the BSR1 gene, it will lead to new control methods that protect crops from both pathogens and pests. In addition, a wide variety of crops have genes similar to BSR1, and we can expect to see its application to these crops in the future.
This research result was published in the 「International Journal of Molecular Sciences」on June 20,2023.
Publication
BSR1, a Rice Receptor-like Cytoplasmic Kinase, Positively Regulates Defense Responses to Herbivory
Yasukazu Kanda, Tomonori Shinya, Satoru Maeda, Kadis Mujiono, Yuko Hojo, Keisuke Tomita, Kazunori Okada, Takashi Kamakura, Ivan Galis, & Masaki Mori
International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2023) 24(12):10395. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241210395
