The Maize NBS-LRR Gene ZmNBS25 Enhances Disease Resistance in Rice and Arabidopsis

Abstract

Nucleotide-binding site-leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) domain proteins are immune sensors and play critical roles in plant disease resistance. In this study, we cloned and characterized a novel NBS-LRR gene <i>ZmNBS25</i> in maize. We found that <i>ZmNBS25</i> could response to pathogen inoculation and salicylic acid (SA) treatment in maize, and transient overexpression of <i>ZmNBS25</i> induced a hypersensitive response in tobacco. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis showed that, compared to control plants, <i>ZmNBS25</i> overexpression (<i>ZmNBS25</i>-OE) in Arabidopsis and rice resulted in higher SA levels. By triggering the expression of certain defense-responsive genes, <i>ZmNBS25</i>-OE enhanced the resistance of Arabidopsis and rice to <i>Pseudomonas syringae</i> pv. <i>tomato</i> DC3000 and sheath blight disease, respectively. Moreover, we found little change of grain size and 1000-grain weight between <i>ZmNBS25</i>-OE rice lines and controls. Together, our results suggest that <i>ZmNBS25</i> can function as a disease resistance gene across different species, being a valuable candidate for engineering resistance in breeding programs.