Molecular characterization of rice OsBIANK1, encoding a plasma membrane-anchored ankyrin repeat protein, and its inducible expression in defense responses

A rice gene, OsBIANK1, encoding a protein containing a typical ankyrin repeat domain, was cloned and identified. The OsBIANK1 protein, consisting of 329 amino acids, contains a conserved ankyrin repeat domain with two ankyrin repeats organized in tandem and was showed to be localized on cytoplasmic membrane during transient expression in onion epidermal cells. Expression of OsBIANK1 was induced by treatment with benzothiadiazole (BTH), a chemical inducer capable of inducing disease resistance response in rice. In BTH-treated rice seedlings, expression of OsBIANK1 was further induced by infection with Magnaporthe grisea, the rice blast fungus, as compared with those in water-treated seedlings. Our preliminary results confirm previous evidences that OsBIANK1 may be involved in regulation of disease resistance response in rice.