The genes upregulated in WRKY45-ox rice relative to Nipponbare

WRKY45-overexpressing (WRKY45-ox) rice plants are extremely resistant to rice blast and bacterial leaf-blight diseases. To search for the genes that are potentially responsible for the strong resistance, we performed genome-wide gene expression analysis in WRKY45-ox rice. A microarray analysis using Agilent rice oligo microarray for approximately 42,000 rice genes identified 1,664 genes that are upregulated in WRKY45-ox rice compared with non-transformant rice cv. Nipponbare (NB). Analysis of the genes with altered expression in WRKY45-ox rice by a Gene ontology program (Agri GO; http://bioinfo.cau.edu.cn/agriGO/) revealed that several genes in the biosynthetic pathway for diterpenoid phytoalexins, for which anti-blast fungus activities have been reported, were upregulated in WRKY45-ox rice. Nipponbare rice (Oryza sativa) and WRKY45-ox rice were analyzed in three biological replicates.