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Poster

Session: Session 2 Presenting Authors at Posters (Odds)

P-281 - Brown planthopper long RNA transcripts translocate into the rice plant and suppress the host defense

Wednesday, July 16, 2025
13:30 - 15:15  
Location: Confex Hall 3
Plant Interactions with nematodes & parasitic plants

    Presenting Author(s)

  • DW

    Dong Wen

    Huazhong Agricultural University
    Wuhan, Hubei, China (People's Republic)

    • Author(s)

  • JW

    Jun Wu

    Huazhong agricultural university
    Wuhan, Hubei, China (People's Republic)

  • WM

    Weihua Ma

    Huazhong agricultural university
    Wuhan, Hubei, China (People's Republic)

  • HH

    Hongxia Hua

    huazhong agricultural university
    Wuhan, Hubei, China (People's Republic)

  • YC

    Yazhou Chen

    Huazhong Agricultural University
    Wuhan, Hubei, China (People's Republic)

Abstract

The brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens, BPH) is a major pest threatening global rice (Oryza sativa) production. While effector proteins in BPH saliva are known to facilitate host colonization, the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in this process remains unexplored. Here, we identify a novel class of salivary lncRNAs, BSCLs (BPH Salivary gland Cross-kingdom lncRNAs), that are secreted into rice during feeding and systemically transported to distal tissues, including roots and leaves. BSCLs exhibit greater stability in rice than BPH-derived mRNAs, and their expression in BPH is modulated by rice resistance levels. Functional analyses reveal that silencing BSCL1 in BPH reduces reproduction, while its heterologous expression in rice enhances BPH feeding and fecundity. Moreover, BSCL1 overexpression suppresses rice defense responses, highlighting its role as a virulence factor. Our findings uncover a previously unrecognized RNA-based mechanism in insect-plant interactions, demonstrating that BPH lncRNAs actively manipulate host immunity to promote infestation.

 

Keywords: brown planthopper, lncRNAs, cross-kingdom RNAs, BSCLs, rice