P-068 - ROD2 suppresses ROS scavenging to confer broad spectrum disease resistance in rice

Rice serves as the staple food for over half of the global population, yet its production is severely affected by various diseases, leading to significant yield losses. Broad-spectrum and durable disease resistance has emerged as an effective strategy in crop breeding. Here, we characterize a semi-dominant, gain-of-function rice mutant rod2-D, which exhibits enhanced resistance to multiple rice diseases. Through map-based cloning, we identified the ROD2 gene, which encodes a PLAC8 domain containing protein. Overexpression of ROD2 confers resistance to major rice pathogens, while its knockout compromises defense responses. Further analysis reveals that ROD2 interacts with catalases and inhibits the activity of CatB, resulting in accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and enhanced disease resistance. Consequently, overexpression of CatB in the rod2-D background attenuates the lesion-mimic phenotype and reduces resistance to pathogens, underscoring the functional interplay between ROD2 and CatB in regulating immune responses. Our findings demonstrate that ROD2 plays a pivotal role in rice immunity by modulating reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis, highlighting its potential as a valuable target for breeding disease-resistant rice varieties.