Phosphorylation-guarded light-harvesting complex II contributes to broad-spectrum blast resistance in rice

Abstract

Environmental conditions are key factors in the progression of plant disease epidemics. Light affects the outbreak of plant diseases, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well understood. Here, we report that the light-harvesting complex II protein, LHCB5, from rice is subject to light-induced phosphorylation during infection by the rice blast fungus <i>Magnaporthe oryzae</i> We demonstrate that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the <i>LHCB5</i> promoter control the expression of <i>LHCB5</i>, which in turn correlates with the phosphorylation of LHCB5. LHCB5 phosphorylation enhances broad-spectrum resistance of rice to <i>M. oryzae</i> through the accumulation of reactive oxidative species (ROS) in the chloroplast. We also show that LHCB5 phosphorylation-induced resistance is inheritable. Our results uncover an immunity mechanism mediated by phosphorylation of light-harvesting complex II.