Nitric Oxide Enhances Rice Resistance to Rice Black-Streaked Dwarf Virus Infection

Background Rice black-streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) causes one of the most important rice virus diseases of plants in East Asia. However, molecular mechanism(s)controlling rice resistance to infection is largely unknown. Results In this paper, we showed that RBSDV infection in rice significantly induced nitric oxide (NO) production. This finding was further validated through a genetic approach using a RBSDV susceptible (Nipponbare) and a RBSDV resistant (15HPO187) cultivar. The production of endogenous NO was muchhigher in the 15HPO187 plants, leading to a much lower RBSDV disease incidence. Pharmacological studies showed that the applications of NO-releasingcompounds (i.e., sodium nitroprusside [SNP] and nitrosoglutathione [GSNO]) to rice plants reduced RBSDV disease incidence. After RBSDV infection, the levels of OsICS1, OsPR1b and OsWRKY 45 transcripts were significantly up-regulated by NO in Nipponbare. The increased salicylic acid contents were also observed. After the SNP treatment, protein S-nitrosylation in rice plants was also increased, suggesting that the NO-triggered resistance to RBSDV infection was partially mediated at the post-translational level. Although Osnia2 mutant rice produced less endogenous NO after RBSDV inoculation and showed a higher RBSDV disease incidence, its RBSDV susceptibility could be reduced by SNP treatment. Conclusions Collectively, our genetic and molecular evidence revealed that endogenous NO was a vital signal responsible for rice resistance to RBSDV infection.