Biotic stress is one of the most serious constraints on rice productivity. Strategy adopting regulators in signal transduction of systemic acquired resistance for conferring long-lasting disease resistance against broad spectrum of pathogens become highly favorable. To achieve this, signal transduction of disease resistance should be well characterized. / OsGPBP1 is a putative G-protein binding protein and interacts with a member of the YchF G-protein subfamily that has not been thoroughly studied in plants, while OsRHC1 is a novel RING zinc finger protein harboring multiple transmembrane domains at the N-half and a unique RING-HC domain at the C terminus. Both of them were induced in the bacterial blight resistant near isogenic rice line upon wounding. Gain-of-function tests in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana showed that their ectopic expressions are able to trigger the expression of both defense marker genes mediated either by SA- or JA/ET-pathways and led to increased resistance toward the pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 and both of the two clones seemed to rely on NPR1 (disease resistance key regulator) for function. Furthermore, over-expressions of the two clones in its native system are also able to activate rice defense marker genes. / Suppression subtractive hybridization experiment, using RNA samples from a pair of near-isogenic rice lines either containing the R gene Xa14 (CBB14) or its susceptible recurrent parent (SN1033), were previously performed in our laboratory. Two gene candidates ( OsGPBP1 and OsRHC1) probably encoding two novel types of signal transduction components related to disease resistance are chosen for further analysis. / Cheung, Ming Yan. / "September 2007." / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-08, Section: B, page: 4555. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 148-168). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.