Phenotypic characterization of the LMM, spl38. A) Representative leaves of the spl38 mutant and the WT. Scale bar, 1 cm. B) Plant phenotype at the tillering stage (50 d after germination). Scale bar, 10 cm. C) Whole plant architecture at the ripening stage (120 d after germination). Scale bar, 10 cm. D) Comparison of 1,000-grain weight and average grain yield per plant between spl38 and WT plants grown under the natural paddy field conditions. E) Disease symptoms on spl38 and WT leaves inoculated with the compatible M. oryzae isolate TH12. Leaves were photographed at 120 hpi and are part of a single image. Scale bar, 1 cm. G) Disease symptoms on spl38 and WT leaves infected with the compatible X. oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) isolate PXO71. Leaves were examined at 14 dpi. Scale bar, 2 cm. F and H) Fungal biomass (F) and lesion length (H) on the inoculated leaves of spl38 and WT plants. I) Volcano plot showing the genes differentially expressed between the WT and spl38 mutant plants. The x-axis represents normalized RNA-seq log2 gene expression counts. Gray and blue colors represent nonsignificant DEGs; purple and orange colors represent significant DEGs (upregulated and downregulated, respectively). J) KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of top 20 KEGG DEGs (P ≤ 0.05). The x-axis represents the enrichment score. The color of the dot represents the P-value, and the size of the dot represents the number of DEGs mapped to the reference pathways. Data represent mean ± SE of 3 independent replicates. Asterisks represent significant differences between spl38 mutant and WT plants (**P < 0.01; Student's t-test).