Abstract

Maize rough dwarf disease (MRDD), caused by various species of the genus Fijivirus, threatens maize production worldwide. We previously identified a quantitative locus qMrdd1 conferring recessive resistance to one causal species, rice black-streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV). Here, we show that Rab GDP dissociation inhibitor alpha (RabGDIα) is the host susceptibility factor for RBSDV. The viral P7-1 protein binds tightly to the exon-10 and C-terminal regions of RabGDIα to recruit it for viral infection. Insertion of a helitron transposon into RabGDIα intron 10 creates alternative splicing to replace the wild-type exon 10 with a helitron-derived exon 10. The resultant splicing variant RabGDIα-hel has difficulty being recruited by P7-1, thus leading to quantitative recessive resistance to MRDD. All naturally occurring resistance alleles may have arisen from a recent single helitron insertion event. These resistance alleles are valuable to improve maize resistance to MRDD and potentially to engineer RBSDV resistance in other crops.

Maize rough dwarf disease threatens its production. Here, the authors show that a helitron transposon insertion in the Rab GDP dissociation inhibitor alpha leads to recessive viral resistance by affecting its interaction with viral P7-1 protein and that all naturally occurring alleles come from a single mutation event after domestication.

Details

Title
A helitron-induced RabGDIα variant causes quantitative recessive resistance to maize rough dwarf disease
Author
Liu Qingcai 1 ; Deng Suining 1 ; Liu Baoshen 2 ; Tao Yongfu 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Ai Haiyue 1 ; Liu Jianju 1 ; Zhang, Yongzhong 2 ; Zhao, Yan 2 ; Xu, Mingliang 1 

 China Agricultural University, State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry/College of Agronomy and Biotechnology/National Maize Improvement Center/Center for Crop Functional Genomics and Molecular Breeding, Beijing, P. R. China (GRID:grid.22935.3f) (ISNI:0000 0004 0530 8290) 
 Shandong Agricultural University, College of Agronomy/State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Taian, P. R. China (GRID:grid.22935.3f) 
Publication year
2020
Publication date
2020
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2344544670
Copyright
This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.