Transcriptional profiling of the responses to infection by the false smut fungusUstilaginoidea virensin resistant and susceptible rice varieties

Rice false smut is a severe fungal disease worldwide, but the mechanisms underlying resistance to the causal agent Ustilaginoidea virens in rice remain unknown. We performed RNA-Seq to investigate the transcriptional modulation in resistant and susceptible rice varieties for the responses to U. virens infection. In total, 1405 and 1066 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in resistant ‘IR28’ and susceptible ‘HXZ’ cultivars, respectively. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis revealed a set of GO terms differentially enriched in the two rice varieties. Functional analysis of DEGs showed that a large number of genes encoding secondary metabolites, flavin-containing monooxygenases and peroxidases were differentially regulated. Classification analysis of DEGs revealed that brassinosteroids may have more important roles than salicylic acid and ethylene in response to U. virens infection; the crosstalk of other hormones such as auxin, gibberellins and jasmonates may also affect U. vire...