Early signaling network in rice PRR-mediated and R-mediated immunity

Recent studies on plant immunity and pathogen infection have revealed sophisticated forms of plant-pathogen interaction. Considerable progress has been made recently in our understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying chitin signaling in rice. The identification and characterization of two direct substrates, OsRacGEF1 and OsRLCK185, as components in the chitin receptor complex of OsCERK1 have revealed how pattern recognition receptors transduce pathogen signals to downstream molecules in rice. In this review, we highlight these and other recent studies that have contributed to our current understanding of the signaling network in rice immunity, especially with regard to pattern recognition receptors, disease resistance (R) proteins, and their downstream targets.