Rhizoctonia solani, one of the most detrimental necrotrophic pathogens, causes rice sheath blight and poses a severe threat to production. Focus on the function of effectors secreted by necrotrophic pathogens during infection has grown rapidly in recent years. However, little is known about the virulence and mechanisms of these proteins. In this study, we performed functional studies on putative effectors in R. solani and revealed that AGLIP1 out of 13 putative effectors induced cell death in Nicotiana benthamiana. AGLIP1 was also demonstrated to trigger cell death in rice protoplasts. The predicted lipase active sites and signal peptide (SP) of this protein were required for the cell death-inducing ability. AGLIP1 was greatly induced during R. solani infection in rice sheath. The AGLIP1’s virulence function was further demonstrated by transgenic technology. The pathogenesis-related genes induced by pathogen-associated molecular pattern and bacteria were remarkably inhibited in AGLIP1-expressing transgenic Arabidopsis lines. Ectopic expression of AGLIP1 strongly facilitated disease progression in Arabidopsis caused by the type III secretion system-defective mutant from Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. Collectively, these results indicate that AGLIP1 is a possible effector that plays a significant role in pathogen virulence through inhibiting basal defenses and promoting disease development in plants.

Rhizoctonia solani is an important phytopathogenic fungus with a wide host range and worldwide distribution. The anastomosis group AG1 IA of R. solani has been identified as the predominant causal agent of rice sheath blight, one of the most devastating diseases of crop plants. As a necrotrophic pathogen, R. solani exhibits many characteristics different from biotrophic and hemi-biotrophic pathogens during co-evolutionary interaction with host plants. Various types of secondary metabolites, carbohydrate-active enzymes, secreted proteins and effectors have been revealed to be essential pathogenicity factors in R. solani. Meanwhile, reactive oxygen species, phytohormone signaling, transcription factors and many other defense-associated genes have been identified to contribute to sheath blight resistance in rice. Here, we summarize the recent advances in studies on molecular interactions between rice and R. solani. Based on knowledge of rice-R. solani interactions and sheath blight resistance QTLs, multiple effective strategies have been developed to generate rice cultivars with enhanced sheath blight resistance.

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To explore new potential fungicides, a series of novel compounds, including 11 2-oxocycloalkylsulfonamide (3) and 21 2-hydroxycycloalkylsulfonamide (4) derivatives, were synthesized and their structures were confirmed by (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), infrared (IR), and elemental analysis. The results of the bioassay showed that the compounds 3 and 4 possessed excellent fungicidal activity against Botrytis cinerea Pers. both in vitro and in vivo. The fungicidal activity of the compounds with 7- or 8-membered rings is better than those with 5-, 6-, or 12-membered rings. According to the results of the mycelium growth rate test, the EC50 values of the compounds 3C, 4C, 3D, and 4D were 0.80, 0.85, 1.22, and 1.09 μg/mL, respectively, and similar to or better than commercial fungicide procymidone. The bioassay results of spore germination indicated that most of the compounds exhibited obvious inhibitory effects against B. cinerea and the inhibition rates of 2-oxocycloalkylsulfonamides were higher than 2-hydroxycycloalkylsulfonamides, among them. The EC50 values of compounds 3A, 3B17, 3E, and 4A were 4.21, 4.21 3.24, and 5.29 μg/mL, respectively. Those compounds containing 5- or 6-membered rings showed better activity than those containing 7-, 8-, or 12-membered rings. Furthermore, the results of the pot culture test showed that almost all of the compounds had effective control activity in vivo and 2-hydroxycycloalkylsulfonamides were obviously superior to 2-oxocycloalkylsulfonamides. The compounds 3E, 4C and 4D presented higher control efficacy than procymidone and pyrimethanil against gray mold disease on cucumber plants.

The present work demonstrated that 2-amino-6-oxocyclohexenylsulfonamides can be used as possible new lead compounds for further developing novel fungicides against B. cinerea.