Fan Zhang, Zhiqiang Hu, Zhichao Wu, Jialing Lu, Yingyao Shi, Jianlong Xu, Xiyin Wang, Jinpeng Wang, Fan Zhang, Mingming Wang, Xiaorong Shi, Yanru Cui, Casiana Vera Cruz, Dalong Zhuo, Dandan Hu, Min Li, Wensheng Wang, Xiuqin Zhao, Tianqing Zheng, Binying Fu, Jauhar Ali, Yongli Zhou, Zhikang Li. 

　　The Plant Cell,   IF: 11.277

　　https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab146

　　Abstract

　　A 1D/2D genome-wide association study strategy was adopted to investigate the genetic systems underlying the reciprocal adaptation of rice (Oryza sativa ) and its bacterial pathogen, Xanthomonas oryzae  pv. oryzae  (Xoo ) using the whole-genome sequencing and large-scale phenotyping data of 701 rice accessions and 23 diverse Xoo  strains. Forty-seven Xoo  virulence-related genes and 318 rice quantitative resistance genes (QR-genes) mainly located in 41 genomic regions, and genome-wide interactions between the detected virulence-related genes and QR genes were identified, including well-known resistance genes/virulence genes plus many previously uncharacterized ones. The relationship between rice and Xoo  was characterized by strong differentiation among Xoo  races corresponding to the subspecific differentiation of rice, by strong shifts toward increased resistance/virulence of rice/Xoo  populations and by rich genetic diversity at the detected rice QR-genes and Xoo  virulence genes, and by genome-wide interactions between many rice QR-genes and Xoo  virulence genes in a multiple-to-multiple manner, presumably resulting either from direct protein–protein interactions or from genetic epistasis. The observed complex genetic interaction system between rice and Xoo  likely exists in other crop–pathogen systems that would maintain high levels of diversity at their QR-loci/virulence-loci, resulting in dynamic coevolutionary consequences during their reciprocal adaptation.