A giant NLR gene confers broad-spectrum resistance to Phytophthora sojae in soybean

Authors: WANG, WEIDONG - Purdue University; CHEN, LIYANG - Purdue University; FENGLER, KEVIN - Corteva Agriscience; BOLAR, JOY - Corteva Agriscience; LLACA, VICTOR - Corteva Agriscience; WANG, XUTONG - Purdue University; CLARK, CHANCELOR - Purdue University; Fleury, Tomara; MYRVOLD, JON - Corteva Agriscience; ONEAL, DAVID - Corteva Agriscience; VAN DYK, DALEEN - Corteva Agriscience; HUDSON, ASHLEY - Corteva Agriscience; MUNKVOLD, JESSE - Corteva Agriscience; BAUMGARTEN, ANDY - Corteva Agriscience; THOMPSON, JEFF - Corteva Agriscience; Cai, Guohong; CRASTA, OSWALD - Corteva Agriscience; AGGARWAL, RAJAT - Corteva Agriscience; MA, JIANXIN - Purdue University

Submitted to: Nature Communications
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/6/2021
Publication Date: 11/5/2021
Citation: Wang, W., Chen, L., Fengler, K., Bolar, J., Llaca, V., Wang, X., Clark, C.B., Fleury, T.J., Myrvold, J., Oneal, D., Van Dyk, D., Hudson, A., Munkvold, J., Baumgarten, A., Thompson, J., Cai, G., Crasta, O., Aggarwal, R., Ma, J. 2021. A giant NLR gene confers broad-spectrum resistance to Phytophthora sojae in soybean. Nature Communications. 12:6263. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26554-8.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26554-8

Interpretive Summary: Phytophthora root and stem rot is a major threat to soybean production in the United States and worldwide. Growing soybean cultivars carrying genes resistance to the causal agent, Phytophthora sojae (Rps), is the most economical, effective and environmentally friendly strategy to control this disease. In this study, we identified Rps11 gene, determined its resistance spectrum, assembled the genome region harboring this gene, and determined the evolutionary origin of the genomic locus harboring Rps11 and other related genes. Our study provided tools for precise selection of Rps11 in soybean breeding and thus added another tool in our ongoing battle to control Phytophthora root and stem rot of soybean.

Technical Abstract: Phytophthora root and stem rot (PRSR) caused by Phytophthora sojae is among the most destructive soybean soil-borne diseases worldwide. Here we show that soybean Rps11 is a 27.7-kb nucleotide-binding site leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) gene conferring an extremely broad spectrum of resistance to the pathogen. Rps11 is located in a genomic region harboring a cluster of unusually large NBS-LRR genes of a single origin, and was formed by rounds of intergenic and intragenic unequal recombination. Such recombination events have resulted in promoter fusion and expansion of the LRR domain that presumably explains the broadness of the resistance spectrum. The NBS-LRR gene cluster exhibits drastic structural diversification among phylogenetically representative varieties, including gene copy number variation ranging from five to 23 copies, and absence of allelic copies of Rps11 in any of the non-Rps11-donor varieties. Our study thus exemplifies innovative NBS-LRR gene evolution and will accelerate the deployment of Rps11 for soybean protection.