Overexpression of OsTF1L, a rice HD-Zip transcription factor, promotes lignin biosynthesis and stomatal closure that improves drought tolerance.

ABSTRACT: Drought stress seriously impacts on plant development and productivity. Improvement of drought tolerance without yield penalty is a great challenge in crop biotechnology. Here, we report that the rice (Oryza sativa) homeodomain-leucine zipper transcription factor gene, OsTF1L (Oryza sativa transcription factor 1-like), is a key regulator of drought tolerance mechanisms. Overexpression of the OsTF1L in rice significantly increased drought tolerance at the vegetative stages of growth and promoted both effective photosynthesis and a reduction in the water loss rate under drought conditions. Importantly, the OsTF1L overexpressing plants showed a higher drought tolerance at the reproductive stage of growth with a higher grain yield than nontransgenic controls under field-drought conditions. Gen

SUBMITTER: Bang SW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6330637 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature