Employing Differential Metabolomics Approach in Non-Host Arabidopsis to Curtail Rice Blast Disease

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa) is a major cereal crop belonging to the family Poaceae, is the most staple cereal crops of the world and is consumed by more than 50% of world population. India holds the 2 nd position next to Chinas the world’s largest producer of rice. Rice production need to increase up to 38% by 2030 to cope with the population outgrowth. Conversely, biotic stressors are the major constraints for sustainable agricultural practices and greater threat towards global food security. Among the biotic factors, fungal diseases alone are estimated to reduce annual rice production by ~14% globally and among the fungal diseases of rice, rice blast caused by Magnaporthe oryzae is of significant economic importance that can cause 70% to 80% yield loss of rice. The hemi-biotrophic fungi infect at all the developmental stage of plant and produce symptoms on the leaf, collar, neck, panicle and even in the glumes. It decreases the rice production by an amount, enough to feed 60 million people every year. The most casual approaches for the management of rice blast diseases are management in nutrient fertilizer and irrigation, application of fungicides and chemicals, which are futile as well, poses threat like bio-magnification/accumulation. In our study we are employing metabolomics characterization of nonhost plant components responsible for basal immunity against rice blast disease. For this, we have generated more susceptible Arabidopsis (mosA) line, by EMS mutation. We have found mosA is highly susceptible for M. oryzae, while the wild ecotype Col-0 is inherently resistant against the pathogen. The crude leaf extracts from the wild ecotype have shown inhibitory response against M. oryzae conidia germination while the EMS mutant fails to curtail the mycelia germination and growth. The HRMS mediate differential comparative metabolomic analysis have revealed crucial role of Methionine metabolic pathway, photosynthesis pathway, and ROS accumulation during the plant pathogen interaction. Stacking of Arabidopsis defence related genes by introgression and breeding in rice can lead to resistant Rice germplasm production, which will ultimately strengthen the global food security. Further, the downstream metabolic compounds can directly be treated and targeted in the field condition to curtail blast disease outbreak.