Induced systemic resistance in wounded rice plants

Wounding of one leaf of young rice plants caused a strong and transient accumulation of non-conjugated (–)-JA, followed by induction of a number of pathogenesis-related genes, in the treated leaf. The non-treated leaf of wounded plants that emerged after the treatment was more resistant to challenge infection by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea (Hebert) Barr. The systemic leaf also showed a transient, but delayed accumulation of jasmonic acid. Unlike the wounded leaf, there was no accumulation of pathogenesis-related mRNAs or proteins in the systemically protected leaf. Local application of jasmonic acid, the putative signal of the wound response, resulted in a similar degree of systemic disease resistance as wounding. The results suggest the operation of systemic, wound-related signalling processes in rice that induce systemic disease resistance.