Volume 35, No 3, Mar 2025

ISSN: 1001-0602 
EISSN: 1748-7838 2018 
impact factor 17.848* 
(Clarivate Analytics, 2019)

Volume 35 Issue 3, March 2025: 205-219   |  Open Access

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Rice transcription factor bHLH25 confers resistance to multiple diseases by sensing H₂O₂

Haicheng Liao^1,† , Yu Fang^1,† , Junjie Yin^1,† , Min He^1,† , Yingjie Wei^1,† , Juan Zhang¹ , Shuang Yong¹ , Jiankui Cha¹ , Li Song¹ , Xiaobo Zhu¹ , Xixi Chen¹ , Ján Kováč² , Qingqing Hou¹ , Zhaotang Ma¹ , Xiaogang Zhou¹ , Lin Chen¹ , Emi Yumoto³ , Tian Yang¹ , Qi He¹ , Wei Li¹ , Yixin Deng¹ , Haoxuan Li¹ , Mingwu Li¹ , Hai Qing¹ , Lijuan Zou¹ , Yu Bi¹ , Jiali Liu¹ , Yihua Yang¹ , Daihua Ye¹ , Qi Tao¹ , Long Wang¹ , Qing Xiong¹ , Xiang Lu¹ , Yongyan Tang¹ , Ting Li¹ , Bingtian Ma^1,4 , Peng Qin^1,4 , Yan Li¹ , Wenming Wang¹ , Yangwen Qian⁵ , Jaroslav Ďurkovič² , Koji Miyamoto⁶ , Mawsheng Chern⁷ , Shigui Li^1,4 , Weitao Li^1,4 , Jing Wang^1,* , Xuewei Chen^1,*

¹State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
²Department of Phytology, Technical University in Zvolen, Zvolen, Slovakia
³Advanced Instrumental Analysis Center, Teikyo University, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
⁴Rice Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
⁵WIMI Biotechnology Company Limited, Sanya, Hainan, China
⁶Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Teikyo University, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
⁷Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
^†These authors contributed equally: Haicheng Liao, Yu Fang, Junjie Yin, Min He, Yingjie Wei
Correspondence: Jing Wang(jingwang406@sicau.edu.cn)Xuewei Chen(xwchen88@sicau.edu.cn)

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a ubiquitous signal regulating many biological processes, including innate immunity, in all eukaryotes. However, it remains largely unknown that how transcription factors directly sense H2O2 in eukaryotes. Here, we report that rice basic/helix-loop-helix transcription factor bHLH25 directly senses H2O2 to confer resistance to multiple diseases caused by fungi or bacteria. Upon pathogen attack, rice plants increase the production of H2O2, which directly oxidizes bHLH25 at methionine 256 in the nucleus. Oxidized bHLH25 represses miR397b expression to activate lignin biosynthesis for plant cell wall reinforcement, preventing pathogens from penetrating plant cells. Lignin biosynthesis consumes H2O2 causing accumulation of non-oxidized bHLH25. Non-oxidized bHLH25 switches to promote the expression of Copalyl Diphosphate Synthase 2 (CPS2), which increases phytoalexin biosynthesis to inhibit expansion of pathogens that escape into plants...

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41422-024-01058-4

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