Transcriptome analysis (RNA-sequencing) of cultivated wild rice (Zizania palustris L.) and Bipolaris oryzae at 24 h and 48 h of their interaction.

We designed a transcriptome study to understand the global gene expression between a cultivated wild rice, Itasca – C12, and the Bipolaris oryzae isolate TG12Lb2 at 12 h and 48 h of their encounter. Wild rice activated numerous plant recognition receptors, followed by active transcriptional reprogramming of signaling mechanisms driven by Ca+2 and its sensors, mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades, activation of an oxidative burst, as well as phytohormone signaling bound-mechanisms. Several transcription factors associated with plant defense were found to be expressed. Importantly, evidence of diterpenoid phytoalexins, especially phytocassane biosynthesis, among other defense genes was found. In B. oryzae, predicted genes associated with pathogenicity, including secreted effectors that could target plant defense mechanisms, were expressed.