Metatranscriptomic Sequencing Suggests the Presence of Novel RNA Viruses in Rice Transmitted by Brown Planthopper.

ABSTRACT: Viral pathogens are a major threat to stable crop production. Using a backcross strategy, we find that integrating a dominant brown planthopper (BPH) resistance gene Bph3 into a high-yield and BPH-susceptible indica rice variety significantly enhances BPH resistance. However, when Bph3-carrying backcross lines are infested with BPH, these BPH-resistant lines exhibit sterile characteristics, displaying panicle enclosure and failure of seed production at their mature stage. As we suspected, BPH-mediated viral infections could cause the observed sterile symptoms, and we characterized rice-infecting viruses using deep metatranscriptomic sequencing. Our analyses revealed eight novel virus species and five known viruses, including a highly divergent virus clustered within a

SUBMITTER: Chao S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8708968 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature