Overexpression of OsGID1 Enhances the Resistance of Rice to the Brown Planthopper Nilaparvata lugens

Gibberellins (GAs) play pivotal roles in plant growth and development, and in defenses against pathogens. Thus far, how the GA-mediated signaling pathway regulates plant defenses against herbivores remains largely unknown. In this study, we cloned the rice GA receptor gene OsGID1, whose expression was induced by damage from the brown planthopper (BPH) Niaparvata lugens, mechanical wounding, and treatment with salicylic acid (SA), but not jasmonic acid. The overexpression of OsGID1 (oe-GID1) decreased BPH-induced levels of SA, H2O2, and three SA-pathway-related WRKY transcripts, but enhanced BPH-induced levels of ethylene. Bioassays in the laboratory revealed that gravid BPH females preferred to feed and lay eggs on wild type (WT) plants than on oe-GID1 plants. Moreover, the hatching rate of BPH eggs on oe-GID1 plants was significantly lower than that on WT plants. In the field, population densities of BPH adults and nymphs were consistently and significantly lower on oe-OsGID1 plants than on WT plants. The increased resistance in oe-GID1 plants was probably due to the increased lignin level mediated by the GA pathway, and to the decrease in the expression of the three WRKY genes. Our findings illustrated that the OsGID1-mediated GA pathway plays a positive role in mediating the resistance of rice to BPH.