Transcriptional profiling of rice gene expression changes upon co-infection with pathogens Magnapothe oryzae and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae that causes rice blast and bacterial blight respectively.

Yield loss in crop plants due to biotic stresses is a major problem and pyramiding of R genes is often suggested for sustained and durable resistance against target pests. Information is available for single R gene interaction in rice and other crop plants, but not much data is available for multiple R gene interaction against multiple pathogens/pests. In this study we carried out transcriptional analysis of two rice lines introgressed with either R gene against bacterial blight and gall midge or, against bacterial blight and fungal blast. The gene expression changes were investigated through microarray and the expression pattern upon co-infection with multiple pathogens was analyzed to study the synergistic effect of R gene mediated defense responses as well as to explore the possibility of any antagonism between the R genes as defense pathway employed due to R gene mediated resistance varies as per the attacking pathogen/pest.

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