AUTHOR=Zheng Cunjian , Liu Yuan , Sun Fangnan , Zhao Lingxia , Zhang Lida 

TITLE=Predicting Protein–Protein Interactions Between Rice and Blast Fungus Using Structure-Based Approaches

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2021.690124

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2021.690124

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=Rice blast, caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, is the most devastating disease affecting rice production. Identification of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) is a critical step towards understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying resistance to blast fungus in rice. Here, we presented a computational framework for predicting plant-pathogen PPIs from structural evidences. Compared with the sequence-based methods, the structure-based approach showed to be more powerful in discovering new PPIs between plants and pathogens. Using the structure-based method, we generated a global PPI network consisted of 2018 interacting protein pairs involving 1344 rice proteins and 418 blast fungus proteins. Network analysis showed that blast-resistance genes were enriched in the PPI network. The high predictability of the PPI network enabled systematic discovery of new blast-resistance genes using guilt-by-association. The network provided a global map to help accelerate identification of blast-resistance genes and advance our understanding of plant-pathogen interactions.