Blast disease resulting from
Magnaporthe oryzae fungal infection reduces annual rice yield by up to 30% globally. The wheatwin2 (
wwin2) is a pathogenesis-related (PR) gene that encodes for a PR-4 protein with chitinase properties that is capable of degrading chitin, a
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Blast disease resulting from
Magnaporthe oryzae fungal infection reduces annual rice yield by up to 30% globally. The wheatwin2 (
wwin2) is a pathogenesis-related (PR) gene that encodes for a PR-4 protein with chitinase properties that is capable of degrading chitin, a major constituent of certain fungal cell walls. However, the potential for
wwin2 to contribute to
M. oryzae resistance in rice is unclear. This study reports the construction of a pMDC140 vector carrying the
wwin2 gene and its
Agrobacterium-mediated transformation into the Tadong rice genome. In brief, the
wwin2 gene was synthesized and integrated into a pMDC140 vector using Gateway cloning technology and was transformed into the Tadong rice genome. Our results show a promising high transformation rate, with more than 90% of the transformed rice calli expressing β-glucuronidase (
GUS), the reporter gene marker. The expression of the
wwin2 gene in transformed rice calli was further confirmed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. In conclusion, a pMDC140-
wwin2 vector was constructed, which had a high transformation rate and could consistently induce expression of the
GUS and
wwin2 genes in Tadong rice. Data of this study is beneficial for subsequent in vitro and
M. oryzae-infected field experiments to confirm the defense mechanism of the
wwin2 gene towards blast disease in rice.
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