Fig. 8. Importance of MoHTR1 NLS in the pathogenicity of M. oryzae.

A Pathogenicity assay by sheath inoculation of wild type, ΔMohtr1, and ΔMohtr1::MoHTR1^ΔNLS. Conidial suspensions (2 × 10⁴mL^–1 for 48 hpi and 5 × 10³mL^–1 for 60 hpi) were inoculated onto 6-week-old rice sheath cells. Invasive growth was observed, and the invasive growth type was counted using a microscope at 48 and 60 hpi. The criteria for the invasive growth types was described in Methods section. Scale bar, 50 μm. B Fungal mass in the wild type-, ΔMohtr1-, and ΔMohtr1::MoHTR1^ΔNLS-infected rice leaves was quantified using DNA-based qPCR. The infected rice leaves were harvested at 4 dpi. C Pathogenicity assay by spray inoculation. Conidial suspensions (5 × 10⁴mL^–1) were inoculated onto 4-week-old rice seedlings. The lesions were observed and collected at 6 dpi. Disease leaf area was measured using ImageJ software. D Transcription levels of defense-associated genes in wild type, ΔMohtr1, and ΔMohtr1::MoHTR1^ΔNLS-infected rice. Infected rice leaves samples from the spray inoculation were collected at 48 hpi. The abundance of basal defense- and hormone signaling-associated genes in rice was quantified using qRT-PCR, and gene abundance was normalized with actin encoding gene expression. Mean ± SD, n = 5 independent drop inoculated rice leaves and n = 3 independent RNA samples from infected rice leaves and independently inoculated rice leaves and sheath cells, significance was determined by an unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001). Representative data are shown from independently experiments and source data are provided as a Source Data file.