Abstract
BackgroundNAC (NAM, ATAF and CUC) transcription factors (TFs) play vital roles in plant development and abiotic stress tolerance. Salt stress is one of the most limiting factors for rice growth and production. However, the mechanism underlying salt tolerance in rice is still poorly understood.ResultsIn this study, we functionally characterized a rice NAC TF OsNAC3 for its involvement in ABA response and salt tolerance. ABA and NaCl treatment induced OsNAC3 expression in roots. Immunostaining showed that OsNAC3 was localized in all root cells. OsNAC3 knockout decreased rice plants’ sensitivity to ABA but increased salt stress sensitivity, while OsNAC3 overexpression showed an opposite effect. Loss of OsNAC3 also induced Na+ accumulation in the shoots. Furthermore, qRT-PCR and transcriptomic analysis were performed to identify the key OsNAC3 regulated genes related to ABA response and salt tolerance, such as OsHKT1;4, OsHKT1;5, OsLEA3–1, OsPM-1, OsPP2C68, and OsRAB-21.ConclusionsThis study shows that rice OsNAC3 is an important regulatory factor in ABA signal response and salt tolerance.
Highlights
NAM ATAF and CUC (NAC) (NAM, ATAF and CUC) transcription factors (TFs) play vital roles in plant development and abiotic stress tolerance
We show that OsNAC3 positively regulates the ABA pathway and salt tolerance in rice via the regulation of OsHKT1;4, OsHKT1;5, OsLEA3–1, OsPM-1, OsPP2C68, and OsRAB-21
We used the OsNAC3 amino acid sequence as a query to search for its homologs in rice and Arabidopsis, and 17 homologs with more than 75% identity were obtained
Summary
NAC (NAM, ATAF and CUC) transcription factors (TFs) play vital roles in plant development and abiotic stress tolerance. Salt stress is one of the most limiting factors for rice growth and production. The mechanism underlying salt tolerance in rice is still poorly understood. Rice yield and grain quality are often affected by adverse environmental factors such as salinity, drought, or inappropriate temperature [1,2,3]. High salinity severely impacts rice growth and harvest [4]. Among the stress-related TFs, the NAC (NAM, ATAF, CUC1/2) family of TFs has acquired great attention for their role in abiotic stress resistance [9]. 151 rice and 117 Arabidopsis NAC proteins have been identified [10]. NAC proteins consist of a conserved DNA-binding domain (NAC domain) in the N-terminal region; on the contrary, the transcriptional regulating C-terminal domain usually varies in both amino acid
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