The brown planthopper (BPH) is the most destructive pest of rice. The MYB transcription factors are vital for rice immunity, but most are activators. Although MYB22 positively regulates rice resistance to BPH and has an EAR motif associated with active repression, it remains unclear whether it is a transcriptional repressor affecting rice-BPH interaction. Genetic analyses revealed that MYB22 regulates rice resistance to BPH via its EAR motif. Several biochemical experiments (e.g. transient transcription assay, Y2H, LCA, and BiFC) indicated that MYB22 is a transcriptional repressor that interacts with the corepressor TOPLESS via its EAR motif and recruits HDAC1 to form a tripartite complex. Flavonoid-3′-hydroxylase (F3’H) is a flavonoid biosynthesis pathway-related gene that negatively regulates rice resistance to BPH. Based on a bioinformatics analysis and the results of EMSA and transient transcription assays, MYB22 can bind directly to the F3’H promoter and repress gene expression along with TOPLESS and HDAC1. We revealed a transcriptional regulatory mechanism influencing the rice-BPH interaction that differs from previously reported mechanisms. Specifically, MYB22-TOPLESS-HDAC1 is a novel transcriptional repressor complex with components that synergistically and positively regulate rice resistance to BPH through the transcriptional repression of F3’H.© 2023 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2023 New Phytologist Foundation.
