The actin motor protein OsMYA1 associates with OsExo70H1 and contributes to rice secretory defense by modulating OsSyp121 distribution

ABSTRACT Magnaporthe oryzae ( M. oryzae ) is a devastating hemibiotrophic pathogen. Its biotrophic invasive hyphae (IH) are enclosed in the extrainvasive hyphal membrane produced by plant cells, thus generating a front line of the battlefield between the pathogen and the host plants. In plants, defense‐related complexes such as proteins, callose‐rich materials and vesicles, are directionally secreted to this interface to confer defense responses, but the underlying molecular mechanism is poorly understood. In this study, we found that a Myosin gene, Myosin A1 ( OsMYA1 ), contributed to rice defense. The OsMYA1 knockout mutant exhibited decreased resistance to M. oryzae infection. OsMYA1 localizes to the actin cytoskeleton and surrounds the IH of M. oryzae . OsMYA1 interacts with an exocyst subunit, OsExo70H1, and regulates its accumulation at the plasma membrane (PM) and pathogen–plant interface. Furthermore, OsExo70H1 interacted with the rice syntaxin of the plants121 protein (OsSyp121), and the distribution of OsSyp121 to the PM or the pathogen–plant interface was disrupted in both the OsMYA1 and OsExo70H1 mutants. Overall, these results not only reveal a new function of OsMYA1 in rice blast resistance, but also uncover a molecular mechanism by which plants regulate defense against M. oryzae by OsMYA1‐initiated vesicle secretory pathway, which originates from the actin cytoskeleton to the PM.