Overexpression of Rice Confers Disease Resistance and Induces Enlarged Flowers in Lind.

Plant pathogens evade basal defense systems and attack different organs and tissues of plants. Genetic engineering of plants with genes that confer resistance against pathogens is very effective in pathogen control. Conventional breeding for disease resistance in ornamental crops is difficult and lagging relative to that in non-ornamental crops due to an inadequate number of disease-resistant genes. Therefore, genetic engineering of these plants with defense-conferring genes is a practical approach. We used rice encoding CYP78A15 for developing transgenic Lind. lines. The overexpression of conferred resistance against two devastating fungal pathogens, and . In addition, overexpression resulted in enlarged flowers with enlarged floral organs. Histological observation of the petal cells suggested that the enlargement in the floral organs could be due to the elongation and expansion of the cells. Therefore, the overexpression of confers broad-spectrum disease resistance and induces the production of enlarged flowers simultaneously. Therefore, this could be an effective strategy for developing ornamental crops that are disease-resistant and economically more valuable.