The effect of leaf blight disease of rice caused by Pantoea ananatis on Nikita, Osr30 and RIRE1 retrotransposons’ movements

Changing environmental conditions can cause diseases in plants, leading to novel interactions between plants and stress factors. In this respect, the relationships between pathogens and plants regarding epigenetics have still been investigated. Our aim is to examine the effect of leaf blight bacterial causal agent, Pantoea ananatis isolate PaTo34a1, on barley- and rice-specific retrotransposons’ (Nikita, Osr30 and RIRE1, respectively) movements in different rice cultivars (Oryza sativa L. cv. Tosya, Cameo, Arize, Ronaldo, Osmancik-97, Kale, Baldo, Bafra, Hakkari and Vasco) collected from different localities in Turkey. The activation order of retrotransposons was observed as Osr30 > Nikita = RIRE1. Osr30 shows polymorphism in Ronaldo and Cameo cultivars when compared to the control. After, amplified Ranoldo and Cameo fragments were sequenced and aligned with rice genome. The result showed that sequence was homologous to Oryza sativa chromosome 12. It is worth noting that this is the first report detailing barley- and rice-specific LTR retrotransposons in pathogen-infected rice cultivars. Hence, it may offer better insights into the retrotransposon movements of a P. ananatis in rice.

Keyword: biotic stress; mobile genetic elements; model organism; pathogenicity effector; plant pathogen