Identification of Defence related genes against rice blast pathogen induced by seaweed extract

Kappaphycus alvarezii seaweed extracts have been known for its plant bio-stimulant and stress alleviation activities on various crops. Hence our study aims to study the effect of these bioformulations against blast disease of rice in susceptible cv IR-64. In current study sea weed bioformulation (LBD1) imparted the resistance against blast pathogen (M. oryzae isolate MG-01) by regulating different signal transduction and defense related genes when primed to plants before challenge inoculation. Oligosaccharides and carrageenans present in the seaweed bioformulations are known induce plant defense responses by modulating the activity of different defense pathways, including salicylate, jasmonate and ethylene signaling pathways. Functional analysis showed that most of the DEGs were involved in metabolism, transport, signalling and defense.