Clemencia Rojas
Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology
Department of Plant Pathology and Center for Plant Science Innovation, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska, United States
Sapana Ghimire
University of Nebraska-Llincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska, United States
Shilu Dahal
Graduate Student
University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL)
Lincoln, NE, USA
Laura Ortega
University of Arkansas-Fayetteville
Rogers, Arkansas, United States
Chia Sin Liew
Senior Bioinformatician
Center for Biotechnology , UNL
Lincoln, Nebraska, United States
Jean-Jack Riethoven
Research Asst Professor
Center for Biotechnology , UNL
Lincoln, Nebraska, United States
Bacterial Panicle Blight (BPB), caused by Burkholderia glumae has affected rice production worldwide. Outbreaks of the disease have been associated with high night temperatures (HNT) suggesting that BPB can become more devastating with the increase in global temperatures. The objective of this work is to understand the genetic basis of the BPB and HNT. To achieve this objective, we screened 20 accessions from the USDA Genetics Stocks Oryzae Diversity Panel 1 for plant responses to B. glumae and HNT (28oC), and when compared with normal nighttime temperature (22 oC) and mock-treated plants. The results revealed temperature-dependent and temperature-independent accessions with a broad range of BPB responses ranging from susceptibility to resistance. Two accessions with contrasting responses (temperature-independent resistance and temperature-independent susceptible) were used for comparative transcriptional profiling. Comparisons within and between accessions for the different parameters resulted in 6346 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Weighted gene co-expression network analysis and Gene Ontology analyses of DEGs enabled narrowing down DEGs to 86 candidate genes that showed contrasting responses between both accessions to single and combined stresses. Those genes belong to different functional categories including hormone signaling, proteolysis, defense responses and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. Further molecular characterization of those genes will enable their deployment to generate plants that are resilient to the combination of stresses.