Project description:Reproductive-stage heat stress reduces rice yield and grain appearance quality, even in modern heat-resilient cultivars. Although our previous work showed that green manure can lessen ripening heat damage in the widely grown but heat-susceptible Japanese cultivar Koshihikari, it remains unclear whether similar benefits occur in heat-resilient cultivars and how green manure influences source–sink molecular responses during ripening. Here, using the heat-resilient cultivar Nijinokirameki, we tested whether green manure alleviates ripening heat stress by modifying panicle thermal status, nitrogen assimilation, and early endosperm stress responses. Green manure increased flag-leaf size and tiller (panicle) number and enhanced ripening-stage heat resilience by lowering panicle temperature without a meaningful phenological shift. Consistent with reduced heat load at the target organ, endosperm RNA-seq at 5 days after flowering (DAF) revealed weaker induction of heat-responsive programs under green manure, accompanied by increased grain protein content and reduced chalkiness classes (e.g., white milky, and white belly and back kernels). In parallel, shoot nitrogen contents at panicle formation stage were increased and flag-leaf RNA-seq at 5 DAF showed upregulation of ASN1 and NADH-GOGAT2, suggesting contribution to nitrogen assimilation in source organs and nitrogen allocation to grains. Together, these results link a sustainable fertility practice to tissue-scale heat stress mitigation and coordinated source–sink transcriptional responses at ripening that reflects enhanced grain protein accumulation and appearance quality under green manure treatment.

2026-06-01 | GSE331540 | GEO

Amaranthus dubius cultivar:Co-1 variety

Project description:Amaranthus dubius cultivar:Co-1 variety Transcriptome or Gene expression

| PRJNA833220 | ENA