Optimizing nutrient transporters to enhance disease resistance in rice: a review.

Fertilizers and plant diseases contribute positively and negatively to crop production, respectively. Macronutrients and micronutrients provided by the soil and fertilizers are transported by various plant nutrient transporters from the soil to plant roots or shoots, facilitating plants growth and development. However, the homeostasis of different nutrients has diverse effects on plant disease. The review is aimed at providing an insight into the interconnected regulation between nutrient homeostasis and immune response, proposing strategies to enhance disease resistance by optimal manipulation of nutrient transporters in rice. Initially, we highlight the essential roles for six macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, calcium, magnesium) and eight micronutrients (iron, manganese, zinc, copper, boron, molybdenum, silicon, nickel), and summarize the diverse effects on rice disease for different mineral nutrients. Then, we systematically review the molecular mechanisms of immune response modulated by rice nutrient transporters and the genetic regulatory pathways controlling specific nutrient-mediated immune signaling regulated by pathogens and host rice. Finally, we discuss the putative strategies for breeding disease-resistant rice by genetic engineering of nutrient transporters.