Functional characterization of tau class glutathione--transferase in rice to provide tolerance against sheath blight disease.

Glutathione--transferase () is an important defense gene that confers resistance against several abiotic and biotic stresses. The present study identifies a tau class GST in rice ( L.), (), which provided tolerance against sheath blight (SB) disease, caused by a necrotrophic fungus, (RS). Overexpression and knockdown rice transgenic lines of were generated and tested for the severity of infection during sheath blight disease. The results obtained after RS infection showed that the lesion cover area and hyphal penetration were more in knockdown line and lesser in the overexpression line. Analysis of reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation showed more spots of HO and O in knockdown lines compared to overexpressed lines. Later, RS transcript level was analyzed in RS-infected transgenic lines, which manifested that the knockdown line had higher RS transcripts in comparison to the control line and least RS transcripts were observed in the overexpressed line. In conclusion, rice transgenic lines overexpressing were found to be more tolerant, while the knockdown lines were more prone to infection compared to control lines.