Project description:High mobility group (HMG) proteins play an important role in regulation of gene transcription through modulate the structure of DNA. In this study, OsHMGB707, a HMG gene localized in rice drought resistance QTL interval, was isolated and the function on rice stress resistance was identified. Overexpression of OsHMGB707 significantly enhanced the drought resistance of the transgenic rice plants, whereas the OsHMGB707-RNAi transgenic rice plants exhibited slightly decrease in drought stress tolerance. To search the downstream genes regulated by OsHMGB707, we performed microarray analysis of the OsHMGB707-overexpressing, OsHMGB707-RNAi and wild-type plants under both normal conditions using Affymetrix Rice Genome Genechip. 21-day-old plants of the OsHMGB707-overexpressing line OE1, OsHMGB707-RNAi line RNAi1 as well as the wild-type plants were used in the normal condition.
Project description:Several homeobox genes belonging to HD-ZIP I subfamily are highly induced by drought stress at various developmental stages in rice. To analyze the role of a candidate HD-ZIP I subfamily member, OsHOX24, we constitutively overexpressed it in rice. The physiological analyses revealed that overexpression of OsHOX24 gene reduced drought stress tolerance in transgenic plants as compared to wild-type. We used microarrays to study the global effect of OsHOX24 overexpression in rice as compared to wild-type under control and drought stress condition.
Project description:The OsCPK4 gene is a member of the complex gene family of the Calcium-dependent protein kinases (CPKs) in rice. Expression of OsCPK4 is induced by high salinity, drought and the phytohormone abscisic acid. The OsCPK4 protein localizes to the plasma membrane. Transgenic rice overexpressing OsCPK4 enhances tolerance to salt and drought stress, the transgenic plants having stronger water-holding capability than control plants. Microarray analysis of OsCPK4 rice plants revealed up-regulation of genes involved in metabolism, particularly lipid metabolism, as well as genes involved in oxidative stress and redox control. Meanwhile, OsCPK4 overexpression has no impact on the expression of the well-characterized abiotic stress-associated transcription factors (i.e. DREB and NAC), or the typical salt and drought-inducible genes (i.e. LEA genes, including Dehydrin genes). Under salt stress conditions, the OsCPK4 transgenic lines showed lesser membrane lipid peroxidation as compared to control plants, indicating that OsCPK4 rice plants have a better capacity to prevent oxidative damage in cellular membrane lipids. Collectively, our data suggest that OsCPK4-mediated processes protect the plant cell from uncontrolled redox reactions affecting membrane functions, which, in turn, results in salt and drought tolerance. OsCPK4 shows great promise for genetic improvement of tolerance to abiotic stress in rice.
Project description:To identify genes involved in the OsDIS1-mediated drought-responsive pathway, we performed microarray analysis of the OsDIS1 overexpression and wild-type plants under both normal and drought stress conditions using the Agilent rice Genechip. Seven-day-old plants of the OsDIS1 overexpression line 9-4-2 as well as the wild-type plants were used in the drought treatment. OsLEA3 was used as a positive control for the drought treatment. Genes with more than two-fold changes in the overexpression plants compared with the wild-type plants were selected. The expression pattern of some differentially expressed genes was further confirmed by real-time PCR.
Project description:Over expression of a transcription factor OsEREBP1 results in attenuation of disease symptoms upon infection with bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae and tolerance to drought stress in transgenic rice plants. Microarray analysis was performed to identify genes regulated by the rice transcription factor OsERBP1. Four independent replicates of the experimental OsEREBP1-ox transgenic plants and the control non-transgenic Kitaake plants were grown under normal conditions.
Project description:Drought is a major environmental constraint affecting physiological, biochemical and molecular changes of crops, causing loss in crop productivities. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance is important for crop biotechnology. Here, we report that the rice (Oryza sativa) homeodomain-leucine zipper class IV transcription factor gene, Rice outermost cell-specific gene 10 (Roc10), improves drought tolerance and grain yield by increasing lignin accumulation in ground tissues of rice plants. Overexpression of Roc10 significantly enhanced drought tolerance of transgenic rice plants at the vegetative stages of growth with highly effective photosystem and reduction of water loss rate as compared with non-transgenic control and RNAi plants. More importantly, Roc10 overexpression plants had higher drought tolerance at the reproductive stage of growth with higher grain yield over controls under field-drought conditions. We identified downstream and putative target genes of Roc10 by using RNA-seq and ChIP-seq data of rice shoots. Roc10 overexpression elevated the expression levels of lignin biosynthetic genes in shoots with a concomitant increase in accumulation of lignin. The overexpression and RNAi lines showed opposite patterns of lignin accumulation. The Roc10 is mainly expressed in the outer cell layers including epidermis and vasculature of shoots that coincides with areas of increased lignification. Furthermore, the Roc10 was found to directly bind to the promoter of PEROXIDASEN/PEROXIDASE38, a key gene in lignin biosynthesis. Together, our findings suggested that the Roc10 confers drought stress tolerance by enhancing lignin biosynthesis in ground tissues of rice plants.
Project description:Drought is a major environmental constraint affecting physiological, biochemical and molecular changes of crops, causing loss in crop productivities. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance is important for crop biotechnology. Here, we report that the rice (Oryza sativa) homeodomain-leucine zipper class IV transcription factor gene, Rice outermost cell-specific gene 10 (Roc10), improves drought tolerance and grain yield by increasing lignin accumulation in ground tissues of rice plants. Overexpression of Roc10 significantly enhanced drought tolerance of transgenic rice plants at the vegetative stages of growth with highly effective photosystem and reduction of water loss rate as compared with non-transgenic control and RNAi plants. More importantly, Roc10 overexpression plants had higher drought tolerance at the reproductive stage of growth with higher grain yield over controls under field-drought conditions. We identified downstream and putative target genes of Roc10 by using RNA-seq and ChIP-seq data of rice shoots. Roc10 overexpression elevated the expression levels of lignin biosynthetic genes in shoots with a concomitant increase in accumulation of lignin. The overexpression and RNAi lines showed opposite patterns of lignin accumulation. The Roc10 is mainly expressed in the outer cell layers including epidermis and vasculature of shoots that coincides with areas of increased lignification. Furthermore, the Roc10 was found to directly bind to the promoter of PEROXIDASEN/PEROXIDASE38, a key gene in lignin biosynthesis. Together, our findings suggested that the Roc10 confers drought stress tolerance by enhancing lignin biosynthesis in ground tissues of rice plants.
Project description:In order to identify new miRNAs, NAT-siRNAs and possibly abiotic-stress regulated small RNAs in rice, three small RNA libraries were constructed from control rice seedlings and seedlings exposed to drought or salt stress, and then subjected to pyrosequencing. Totally three sets of small RNAs, which were obtained under normal condition as well as salt and drought stress conditions
Project description:Plasma membrane NADPH oxidases (NOXs) are major producers of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plant cells under normal growth and stress conditions. Rice NOXs have multiple homologs but their functional mechanisms are largely unknown. We used microarrays to detail the global gene expression profiles in rice wild-type (WT, Dongjin) and a mutant osnox2 which loss the functions of OsNOX2 protein under drought and identified distinct classes of genes between the two type rice plants under both normal growth and drought stressed conditions.