Epigenetic regulation of antagonistic receptors confers rice blast resistance with yield balance

Abstract

Crop breeding aims to balance disease resistance with yield; however, single resistance (R) genes can lead to resistance breakdown, and R gene pyramiding may affect growth fitness. Here we report that the rice <i>Pigm</i> locus contains a cluster of genes encoding nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) receptors that confer durable resistance to the fungus <i>Magnaporthe oryzae</i> without yield penalty. Among these NLR receptors, PigmR confers broad-spectrum resistance, whereas PigmS competitively attenuates PigmR homodimerization to suppress resistance. <i>PigmS</i> expression, and thus <i>PigmR</i>-mediated resistance, are subjected to tight epigenetic regulation. <i>PigmS</i> increases seed production to counteract the yield cost induced by <i>PigmR</i> Therefore, our study reveals a mechanism balancing high disease resistance and yield through epigenetic regulation of paired antagonistic NLR receptors, providing a tool to develop elite crop varieties.