Wild rice might have previously unidentified genes important for disease resistance and stress tolerance in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. A set of subtractive library was constructed both from leaves of wild rice plants, Oryza grandiglumis (CCDD, 2n=48), treated with fungal elicitor and from wounded leaves. A partial fragment that was homologous to PR10 genes from other plant species was identified via suppression subtractive hybridization and cDNA macroarray. The obtained full-length cDNA sequence (OgPR10) contains an open reading frame of 480 bp nucleotide, encoding 160 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 16.944 kDa and an isoelectric point (pI) of 4.91. The multiple alignment analyses showed the higher sequence homology of OgPR10 with PR10 genes identified in rice plants at amino acid level. The OgPR10 mRNA was not expressed by treatment with wounding, jasmonic acid, and salicylic acid, but markedly expressed in leaves treated with protein phosphatase inhibitors cantharidin and endothall, and yeast extract. In addition, the expression of OgPR10 mRNA was induced within 72 h after treatment with probenazole, one of well-known chemical elicitors, and reached the highest level at 144 h. Heterologous expression of OgPR10 caused growth inhibition and seedling lethality in E. coli and Arabidopsis, respectively. Chemically induced OgPR10 expression with glucocorticoid-mediated transcriptional induction system further reconfirmed its lethality on Arabidopsis seedling. In addition, OgPR10-expressing rice plants, Oryzae sativar were resistant against the infection of rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe grisea. These results indicate that OgPR10 is involved in probenazole- and microbe associated molecular patterns-mediated disease resistance responses in plants and is a potential gene for developing disease resistance crop plants.

In recent years, genomic resources and information have accumulated at an ever increasing pace, in many plant species, through whole genome sequencing, large scale analysis of transcriptomes, DNA markers and functional studies of individual genes. Well-characterized species within key plant taxa, co-called "model systems", have played a pivotal role in nucleating the accumulation of genomic information and databases, thereby providing the basis for comparative genomic studies. In addition, recent advances to "Next Generation" sequencing technologies have propelled a new wave of genomics, enabling rapid, low cost analysis of numerous genomes, and the accumulation of genetic diversity data for large numbers of accessions within individual species. The resulting wealth of genomic information provides an opportunity to discern evolutionary processes that have impacted genome structure and the function of genes, using the tools of comparative analysis. Comparative genomics provides a platform to translate information from model species to crops, and to relate knowledge of genome function among crop species. Ultimately, the resulting knowledge will accelerate the development of more efficient breeding strategies through the identification of trait-associated orthologous genes and next generation functional gene-based markers.