Yang Hou-Hong, Wang Ya-Xuan, Xiao Jing, Jia Yi-Fan, Liu Fang, Wang Wei-Xia, Wei Qi, Lai Feng-Xiang, Fu Qiang, Wan Pin-Jun
State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Breeding, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou 311400, China.
Plants (Basel). 2024 Jan 26;13(3):373. doi: 10.3390/plants13030373.
The brown planthopper (BPH), (Stål), a rice-specific pest, has risen to the top of the list of significant pathogens and insects in recent years. Host plant-mediated resistance is an efficient strategy for BPH control. Nonetheless, BPH resistance in rice cultivars has succumbed to the emergence of distinct virulent BPH populations. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) play a pivotal role in regulating plant-environment interactions; however, the mechanisms underlying their insect-resistant functions remain largely unexplored. In this study, we conducted an extensive genome-wide analysis using high-throughput sequencing to explore the response of rice circRNAs to BPH infestations. We identified a total of 186 circRNAs in IR56 rice across two distinct virulence groups: IR-IR56-BPH (referring to IR rice infested by IR56-BPH) and IR-TN1-BPH, along with a control group (IR-CK) without BPH infestation. Among them, 39 circRNAs were upregulated, and 43 circRNAs were downregulated in the comparison between IR-IR56-BPH and IR-CK. Furthermore, in comparison with IR-CK, 42 circRNAs exhibited upregulation in IR-TN1-BPH, while 42 circRNAs showed downregulation. The Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis revealed that the targets of differentially expressed circRNAs were considerably enriched in a multitude of biological processes closely linked to the response to BPH infestations. Furthermore, we assessed a total of 20 randomly selected circRNAs along with their corresponding expression levels. Moreover, we validated the regulatory impact of circRNAs on miRNAs and mRNAs. These findings have led us to construct a conceptual model that circRNA is associated with the defense regulatory network in rice, which is likely facilitated by the mediation of their parental genes and competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks. This model contributes to the understanding of several extensively studied processes in rice-BPH interactions.
褐飞虱（BPH），（斯塔尔），一种专食水稻的害虫，近年来已跃居重要病原菌和昆虫名单之首。寄主植物介导的抗性是控制褐飞虱的有效策略。尽管如此，水稻品种对褐飞虱的抗性已因不同毒力褐飞虱种群的出现而失效。环状RNA（circRNAs）在调节植物与环境的相互作用中起关键作用；然而，其抗虫功能的潜在机制在很大程度上仍未被探索。在本研究中，我们使用高通量测序进行了广泛的全基因组分析，以探究水稻circRNAs对褐飞虱侵染的反应。我们在IR56水稻中总共鉴定出186个circRNAs，分为两个不同的毒力组：IR-IR56-BPH（指受IR56-BPH侵染的IR水稻）和IR-TN1-BPH，以及一个未受褐飞虱侵染的对照组（IR-CK）。其中，在IR-IR56-BPH与IR-CK的比较中，39个circRNAs上调，43个circRNAs下调。此外，与IR-CK相比，42个circRNAs在IR-TN1-BPH中上调，而42个circRNAs下调。基因本体论和京都基因与基因组百科全书富集分析表明，差异表达circRNAs的靶标在与对褐飞虱侵染反应密切相关的众多生物学过程中显著富集。此外，我们总共评估了20个随机选择的circRNAs及其相应的表达水平。此外，我们验证了circRNAs对miRNAs和mRNAs的调控作用。这些发现使我们构建了一个概念模型，即circRNA与水稻中的防御调控网络相关，这可能是由其亲本基因和竞争性内源RNA（ceRNA）网络介导的。该模型有助于理解水稻-褐飞虱相互作用中几个广泛研究的过程。
