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How Rice Plants Response to Abiotic Stresses

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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 18519

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Dr. Longxing Tao

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Research and Development Center of Rice Cropping Technology, China National Rice Research Institute (CNRRI), Hangzhou 310006, China
Interests: rice cultivation; rice physiological process under abiotic stress; chemical regulation to keep high production of rice and so on
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Baohua Feng

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China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou, China
Interests: rice-abiotic interaction; plant hormone; heat stress; low temperature stress; salt stress; sugar metabolism; photosynthesis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Jie Xiong

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Guest Editor

College of Life Sciences and Medicine, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China
Interests: rice physiology and regulation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important crops all over the world, in particular, the East and Southeast Asia. IPCC reports show that global warming is accelerating, and this can result in a huge loss in the yield and quality of rice due to extreme climates occurring frequently. In this case, rice plants inevitably encounter various kinds of adverse environmental conditions during their whole life for their sessile nature. After thousands of years’ evolution, rice plants formed a series of complex physiological processes to tolerate and/or adapt to this adverse condition. To reveal the underlying mechanism, a Special Issue of IJMS is organized. We aim to gain more insight into the rice plants' response to various kinds of abiotic stresses, which can provide new species resources for new varieties breeding, new viewpoints for cultivation methods including exogenous regulatory, and complete the molecular regulatory network. Authors all over the world are invited to submit original research and review articles on topics related to rice plant defense mechanisms on individual or combined abiotic stresses including heat, cold, drought, salinity, UV radiation, low light condition and heavy metal toxicity.

Dr. Longxing Tao
Dr. Baohua Feng
Dr. Jie Xiong
Guest Editors

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Keywords

rice
individual or combined abiotic stress
cold stress
heat stress
salinity
drought
plant physiology
gene expression
plant growth regulation

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Editorial

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3 pages, 175 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

How Rice Plants Response to Abiotic Stresses

by Baohua Feng, Jie Xiong and Longxing Tao

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(16), 12806; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241612806 - 15 Aug 2023

Viewed by 696

Abstract

With the combustion of fossil fuels, unequal and unsustainable energy and land use, and irrational human activities, greenhouse gas emissions remain high, which leads to global warming [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Rice Plants Response to Abiotic Stresses)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

16 pages, 4067 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Time-Series Transcriptomic Analysis of Contrasting Rice Materials under Heat Stress Reveals a Faster Response in the Tolerant Cultivar

by Haiya Cai, Hongpan Wang, Lei Zhou, Bo Li, Shuo Zhang, Yonggang He, Ying Guo, Aiqing You, Chunhai Jiao and Yanhao Xu

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(11), 9408; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24119408 - 28 May 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1432

Abstract

Short-term heat stress can affect the growth of rice (Oryza sativa L.) seedlings, subsequently decreasing yields. Determining the dynamic response of rice seedlings to short-term heat stress is highly important for accelerating research on rice heat tolerance. Here, we observed the seedling characteristics of two contrasting cultivars (T11: heat-tolerant and T15: heat-sensitive) after different durations of 42 °C heat stress. The dynamic transcriptomic changes of the two cultivars were monitored after 0 min, 10 min, 30 min, 1 h, 4 h, and 10 h of stress. The results indicate that several pathways were rapidly responding to heat stress, such as protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum, glycerophospholipid metabolism, and plant hormone signal transduction. Functional annotation and cluster analysis of differentially expressed genes at different stress times indicate that the tolerant cultivar responded more rapidly and intensively to heat stress compared to the sensitive cultivar. The MAPK signaling pathway was found to be the specific early-response pathway of the tolerant cultivar. Moreover, by combining data from a GWAS and RNA-seq analysis, we identified 27 candidate genes. The reliability of the transcriptome data was verified using RT-qPCR on 10 candidate genes and 20 genes with different expression patterns. This study provides valuable information for short-term thermotolerance response mechanisms active at the rice seedling stage and lays a foundation for breeding thermotolerant varieties via molecular breeding. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Rice Plants Response to Abiotic Stresses)

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17 pages, 60595 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integrated ATAC-Seq and RNA-Seq Data Analysis to Reveal OsbZIP14 Function in Rice in Response to Heat Stress

by Fuxiang Qiu, Yingjie Zheng, Yao Lin, Samuel Tareke Woldegiorgis, Shichang Xu, Changqing Feng, Guanpeng Huang, Huiling Shen, Yinying Xu, Manegdebwaoga Arthur Fabrice Kabore, Yufang Ai, Wei Liu and Huaqin He

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(6), 5619; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24065619 - 15 Mar 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2996

Abstract

Transcription factors (TFs) play critical roles in mediating the plant response to various abiotic stresses, particularly heat stress. Plants respond to elevated temperatures by modulating the expression of genes involved in diverse metabolic pathways, a regulatory process primarily governed by multiple TFs in a networked configuration. Many TFs, such as WRKY, MYB, NAC, bZIP, zinc finger protein, AP2/ERF, DREB, ERF, bHLH, and brassinosteroids, are associated with heat shock factor (Hsf) families, and are involved in heat stress tolerance. These TFs hold the potential to control multiple genes, which makes them ideal targets for enhancing the heat stress tolerance of crop plants. Despite their immense importance, only a small number of heat-stress-responsive TFs have been identified in rice. The molecular mechanisms underpinning the role of TFs in rice adaptation to heat stress still need to be researched. This study identified three TF genes, including OsbZIP14, OsMYB2, and OsHSF7, by integrating transcriptomic and epigenetic sequencing data analysis of rice in response to heat stress. Through comprehensive bioinformatics analysis, we demonstrated that OsbZIP14, one of the key heat-responsive TF genes, contained a basic-leucine zipper domain and primarily functioned as a nuclear TF with transcriptional activation capability. By knocking out the OsbZIP14 gene in the rice cultivar Zhonghua 11, we observed that the knockout mutant OsbZIP14 exhibited dwarfism with reduced tiller during the grain-filling stage. Under high-temperature treatment, it was also demonstrated that in the OsbZIP14 mutant, the expression of the OsbZIP58 gene, a key regulator of rice seed storage protein (SSP) accumulation, was upregulated. Furthermore, bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) experiments uncovered a direct interaction between OsbZIP14 and OsbZIP58. Our results suggested that OsbZIP14 acts as a key TF gene through the concerted action of OsbZIP58 and OsbZIP14 during rice filling under heat stress. These findings provide good candidate genes for genetic improvement of rice but also offer valuable scientific insights into the mechanism of heat tolerance stress in rice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Rice Plants Response to Abiotic Stresses)

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12 pages, 3129 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Reveals OsBGs and OsGSLs Influence Sugar Transport through Callose Metabolism under Heat Stress in Rice

by Ruiwei Luan, Jingyang Liu, Longxing Tao, Guanfu Fu and Caixia Zhang

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(4), 3175; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24043175 - 6 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1301

Abstract

Heat or high temperature stress have caused huge damage to many crops and have become the largest threat in terms of the future. Although a huge amount of research has been conducted to explore the mechanisms of heat tolerance and many achievements were accomplished, the mechanism by which how heat stress (HS) influences the yield is still unclear. In this study, RNA-seq analysis indicated that nine 1,3-β-glucanases (BGs) belonging to the carbohydrate metabolic pathway were expressed differently during heat treatment. Therefore, we identified the BGs and glucan-synthase-likes (GSLs) in three rice ecotypes and processed the analyses of gene gain and loss, phylogenetic relationship, duplication, and syntenic relationship. We found the possibility of an environmental adaption based on BGs and GSLs during evolution. Submicrostructure and dry matter distribution analysis confirmed that HS might block the endoplasmic sugar transport pathway by increasing callose synthesis, which may lead to decreased yield and quality in rice production. This study provides a new clue regarding rice yield and quality under HS and provides guidance to rice cultivation and heat tolerance breeding. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Rice Plants Response to Abiotic Stresses)

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25 pages, 5553 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transcriptome and Physio-Biochemical Profiling Reveals Differential Responses of Rice Cultivars at Reproductive-Stage Drought Stress

by Simardeep Kaur, Karishma Seem, Naveen Duhan, Suresh Kumar, Rakesh Kaundal and Trilochan Mohapatra

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(2), 1002; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24021002 - 5 Jan 2023

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2607

Abstract

Drought stress severely affects the growth and development of rice, especially at the reproductive stage, which results in disturbed metabolic processes, reduced seed-set/grain filling, deteriorated grain quality, declined productivity, and lower yield. Despite the recent advances in understanding the responses of rice to drought stress, there is a need to comprehensively integrate the morpho-physio-biochemical studies with the molecular responses/differential expression of genes and decipher the underlying pathways that regulate the adaptability of rice at various drought-sensitive growth stages. Our comparative analysis of immature panicle from a drought-tolerant (Nagina 22) and a drought-sensitive (IR 64) rice cultivar grown under control (well-watered) and water-deficit/drought stress (treatment, imposed at the reproductive stage) conditions unraveled some novel stress-responsive genes/pathways responsible for reproductive-stage drought stress tolerance. The results revealed a more important role of upregulated (6706) genes in the panicle of N 22 at reproductive-stage drought stress compared to that (5590) in IR 64. Functional enrichment and MapMan analyses revealed that majority of the DEGs were associated with the phytohormone, redox signalling/homeostasis, secondary metabolite, and transcription factor-mediated mitigation of the adverse effects of drought stress in N 22. The upregulated expression of the genes associated with starch/sucrose metabolism, secondary metabolites synthesis, transcription factors, glutathione, linoleic acid, and phenylalanine metabolism in N 22 was significantly more than that in the panicle of IR 64. Compared to IR 64, 2743 genes were upregulated in N 22 under control conditions, which further increased (4666) under drought stress in panicle of the tolerant cultivar. Interestingly, we observed 6706 genes to be upregulated in the panicle of N 22 over IR 64 under drought and 5814 genes get downregulated in the panicle of N 22 over IR 64 under the stress. In addition, RT-qPCR analysis confirmed differential expression patterns of the DEGs. These genes/pathways associated with the reproductive-stage drought tolerance might provide an important source of molecular markers for genetic manipulation of rice for enhanced drought tolerance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Rice Plants Response to Abiotic Stresses)

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22 pages, 10768 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparative Analysis of Physiological, Hormonal and Transcriptomic Responses Reveal Mechanisms of Saline-Alkali Tolerance in Autotetraploid Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

by Chunying Zhang, Weilong Meng, Yingkai Wang, Yiming Zhou, Shiyan Wang, Fan Qi, Ningning Wang and Jian Ma

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(24), 16146; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232416146 - 18 Dec 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1922

Abstract

Saline-alkali soil has posed challenges to the growth of agricultural crops, while polyploidy often show greater adaptability in diverse and extreme environments including saline-alkali stress, but its defense mechanisms in rice remain elusive. Herein, we explored the mechanisms of enhanced saline-alkali tolerance of autotetraploid rice 93-11T relative to diploid rice 93-11D, based on physiological, hormonal and transcriptomic profilings. Physiologically, the enhanced saline-alkali tolerance in 93-11T was manifested in higher soluble sugar accumulation and stronger superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) activities in leaves during 24 h after saline-alkali shock. Furthermore, various hormone levels in leaves of 93-11T altered greatly, such as the negative correlation between salicylic acid (SA) and the other four hormones changed to positive correlation due to polyploidy. Global transcriptome profiling revealed that the upregulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in leaves and roots of 93-11T were more abundant than that in 93-11D, and there were more DEGs in roots than in leaves under saline-alkali stress. Genes related to phytohormone signal transduction of auxin (AUX) and SA in roots, lignin biosynthesis in leaves or roots, and wax biosynthesis in leaves were obviously upregulated in 93-11T compared with 93-11D under saline-alkali condition. Collectively, 93-11T subjected to saline-alkali stress possibly possesses higher osmotic regulation ability due to cuticular wax synthesis, stronger negative regulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by increasing the SA levels and maintaining relative lower levels of IAA, and higher antioxidant capacity by increasing activities of SOD and POD, as well as lignin biosynthesis. Our research provides new insights for exploring the mechanisms of saline-alkali tolerance in polyploid rice and discovering new gene targets for rice genetic improvement. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Rice Plants Response to Abiotic Stresses)

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21 pages, 2094 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Response of Rice with Overlapping Growth Stages to Water Stress by Assimilates Accumulation and Transport and Starch Synthesis of Superior and Inferior Grains

by Xinpeng Wang, Jinxu Fu, Zhaosen Min, Detang Zou, Hualong Liu, Jingguo Wang, Hongliang Zheng, Yan Jia, Luomiao Yang, Wei Xin, Bin Sun and Hongwei Zhao

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(19), 11157; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms231911157 - 22 Sep 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1312

Abstract

Drought stress at jointing–booting directly affects plant growth and productivity in rice. Limited by natural factors, the jointing and booting stages of short-growth-period rice varieties are highly overlapped in high-latitude areas, which are more sensitive to water deficit. However, little is known about the dry matter translocation in rice and the strategies of starch synthesis and filling of superior and inferior grains under different drought stress was unclear. In this study, the rice plants were subjected to three degrees of drought stress (−10 kPa, −25 kPa, −40 kPa) for 15 days during the jointing–booting stage; we investigated dry matter accumulation and translocation, grain filling and enzyme activities to starch synthesis of superior and inferior grains in rice with overlapping growth stages from 2016 to 2017. The results showed that drought stress significantly reduced dry matter accumulation in the stems and leaves. Mild and moderate drought increased dry matter translocation efficiency. However, severe drought stress largely limited the dry matter accumulation and translocation. A large amount of dry matter remains in vegetative organs under severe drought stress. The high content in NSC in stem and sheath plays a key role in resisting drought stress. The drought stress at jointing–booting directly caused a change in the grain filling strategy. Under moderate and severe drought, the grain-filling active period of the superior grains was shortened to complete the necessary reproductive growth. The grain-filling active period of the inferior grains was significantly prolonged to avoid a decrease in grain yield. The significant decrease in the grain-filling rate of the superior and inferior grains caused a reduction in the thousand-grain weight. In particular, the influence of the grain-filling rate of inferior grains on the thousand-grain weight was more significant. Drought stress changed the starch synthesis strategies of the superior and inferior grains. Soluble starch synthase and starch branching enzyme activities of inferior grains increased significantly under drought stress. GBSS activity was not sensitive to drought stress. Therefore, amylose content was decreased and amylopectin synthesis was enhanced under drought stress, especially in inferior grains. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Rice Plants Response to Abiotic Stresses)

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15 pages, 3473 KiB

Open AccessArticle

OsABT Is Involved in Abscisic Acid Signaling Pathway and Salt Tolerance of Roots at the Rice Seedling Stage

by Danni Wen, Lingran Bao, Xuanzhu Huang, Xueduo Qian, Eryong Chen and Bo Shen

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(18), 10656; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms231810656 - 13 Sep 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1850

Abstract

Rice is a staple cereal crop worldwide, and increasing its yields is vital to ensuring global food security. Salinity is a major factor that affects rice yield. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate salt tolerance mechanisms in rice. Proteins containing WD40 repeats play important roles in eukaryotic development and environmental adaptation. Here, we showed that overexpression of OsABT, a gene encoding a WD40-repeat protein, enhanced salt tolerance in rice seedlings by regulating root activity, relative conductivity, malondialdehyde and H₂O₂ content, and O₂^•− production rate. Root ion concentrations indicated that OsABT overexpression lines could maintain lower Na⁺ and higher K⁺/Na⁺ ratios and upregulated expression of salt-related genes OsSOS1 and OsHAK5 compared with the wild-type (WT) Nipponbare plants. Furthermore, Overexpression of OsABT decreased the abscisic acid (ABA) content, while downregulating the ABA synthesis genes OsNCED3 and OsNCED4 and upregulating the ABA catabolic gene OsABA8ox2. The yeast two-hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation analyses showed that OsABT interacted with the ABA receptor proteins OsPYL4, OsPYL10, and PP2C phosphatase OsABIL2. A transcriptome analysis revealed that the differentially expressed genes between OsABT overexpression lines and WT plants were enriched in plant hormone signal transduction, including ABA signaling pathway under salt stress. Thus, OsABT can improve the salt tolerance in rice seedling roots by inhibiting reactive oxygen species accumulation, thereby regulating the intracellular Na⁺/K⁺ balance, ABA content, and ABA signaling pathway. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Rice Plants Response to Abiotic Stresses)

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13 pages, 2126 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Abscisic Acid Improves Rice Thermo-Tolerance by Affecting Trehalose Metabolism

by Aike Zhu, Juncai Li, Weimeng Fu, Wenting Wang, Longxing Tao, Guanfu Fu, Tingting Chen and Baohua Feng

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(18), 10615; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms231810615 - 13 Sep 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1851

Abstract

Heat stress that occurs during the flowering stage severely decreases the rice (Oryza sativa L.) seed-setting rate. This damage can be reversed by abscisic acid (ABA), through effects on reactive oxygen species, carbohydrate metabolism, and heat shock proteins, but the exact role of trehalose and ATP in this process remains unclear. Two rice genotypes, namely, Zhefu802 (heat-resistant plant, a recurrent parent) and its near-isogenic line (faded green leaf, Fgl, heat-sensitive plant), were subjected to 38 °C heat stress after being sprayed with ABA or its biosynthetic inhibitor, fluridone (Flu), at the flowering stage. The results showed that exogenous ABA significantly increased the seed-setting rate of rice under heat stress, by 14.31 and 22.40% in Zhefu802 and Fgl, respectively, when compared with the H₂O treatment. Similarly, exogenous ABA increased trehalose content, key enzyme activities of trehalose metabolism, ATP content, and F1Fo-ATPase activity. Importantly, the opposite results were observed in plants treated with Flu. Therefore, ABA may improve rice thermo-tolerance by affecting trehalose metabolism and ATP consumption. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Rice Plants Response to Abiotic Stresses)

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15 pages, 2842 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Salt Tolerance of Rice Is Enhanced by the SS3 Gene, Which Regulates Ascorbic Acid Synthesis and ROS Scavenging

by Guang Chen, Huimin Han, Xiuli Yang, Ruiying Du and Xu Wang

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(18), 10338; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms231810338 - 7 Sep 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1479

Abstract

Mining the key genes involved in the balance of rice salt tolerance is extremely important for developing salt-tolerant rice varieties. A library of japonica mutants was screened under salinity conditions to identify putative salt stress-responsive genes. We identified a highly salt-sensitive mutant ss3 and used a map-based cloning approach to isolate the gene SS3, which encodes mannose-1-phosphate guanylyltransferase. Under salt treatment, ss3 mutants have decreased ascorbic acid (AsA) content and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels compared with the wild type (WT). Exogenous AsA restored the salt tolerance of ss3 plants, indicating that inhibition of AsA synthesis was an important factor in the salt sensitivity of the mutant. Functional complementation using the WT allele rescued the mutation, and transcription of SS3 was induced by salt stress. Vector SS3p:SS3 was constructed containing the 1086 bp coding sequence of SS3. Under salinity conditions, transgenic seedlings expressing SS3p:SS3 had improved salt tolerance relative to WT, as demonstrated by better growth status, higher chlorophyll content, a lower level of Na⁺, and a reduced Na⁺/K⁺ ratio. Further investigation revealed that several senescence- and autophagy-related genes were expressed at lower levels in salt-stressed transgenic lines compared to WT. These results demonstrate the positive impact of SS3 on salt tolerance in rice through the regulation of AsA synthesis and ROS accumulation, and indicate that SS3 is a valuable target for genetic manipulation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Rice Plants Response to Abiotic Stresses)

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