Germin like protein genes exhibit modular expression during salt and drought stress in elite rice cultivars.

Jazba Anum,M Zeeshan Hyder,Saad Imran Malik,Charlotte O’Shea,Karen Skriver,Sumaira Farrukh,Tayyaba Yasmin

doi:10.1007/s11033-021-06871-3

Abstract

Germin-like proteins (GLPs) are ubiquitous plant proteins, which play significant role in plant responses against various abiotic stresses. However, the potential functions of GLPs in rice (Oryza sativa) against salt and drought stress are still unclear. In this study, transcriptional variation of eight OsGLP genes (OsGLP3-6, OsGLP4-1, OsGLP8-4, OsGLP8-7, OsGLP8-10, OsGLP8-11 and OsGLP8-12) was analyzed in leaves and roots of two economically important Indica rice cultivars, KS282 and Super Basmati, under salt and drought stress at early seedling stage. The relative expression analysis from qRT-PCR indicated the highest increase in expression of OsGLP3-6 in leaves and roots of both rice varieties with a significantly higher expression in KS282. Moreover, relative change in expression of OsGLP8-7, OsGLP8-10 and OsGLP8-11 under salt stress and OsGLP8-7 under drought stress was also commonly higher in leaves and roots of KS282 as compared to Super Basmati. Whereas, OsGLP3-7 and OsGLP8-12 after salt stress and OsGLP8-4 and OsGLP8-12 after drought stress were observed with higher relative expression in roots of Super Basmati than KS282. Importantly, the OsGLP3-6 and OsGLP4-1 from chromosome 3 and 4 respectively showed higher expression in leaves whereas most of the OsGLP genes from chromosome 8 exhibited higher expression in roots. Overall, as a result of this comparative analysis, OsGLP genes showed both general and specific expression profiles depending upon a specific rice variety, stress condition as well as tissue type. These results will increase our understanding of role of OsGLP genes in rice crop and provide useful information for the further in-depth research on their regulatory mechanisms in response to these stress conditions.

Highlights

Germin-like proteins (GLPs), member of cupin superfamily, have been found to be associated with various abiotic stresses in different plant species [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Higher relative expression of OsGLP3-6 and OsGLP4-1 was observed under drought stress as compared to salt stress (Fig. 1a and 1c) whereas OsGLP8-7, OsGLP8-10 and OsGLP811 showed high level of expression in response to salt stress (Fig. 1e-1g) suggesting that these genes from chromosome number 8 might play a significant role in response to salt stress
The present study compared the differential regulation of OsGLP genes in leaves and roots of two rice varieties under salt and drought stress

Summary

Introduction

Germin-like proteins (GLPs), member of cupin superfamily, have been found to be associated with various abiotic stresses in different plant species [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Upon exposure to salt and drought stress in plants, GLP genes have been reported to exhibit stress and tissue-specific modulated expression providing evidence for their role in defense against these two stress conditions. Differential and tissue-specific expression of GLP genes has been reported in Arabidopsis and barley depending upon a particular abiotic stress type including osmotic and salt stress [9,10]. GLP genes have been shown to exhibit cultivar-specific differences in their expression between stress tolerant and stress sensitive cultivars. Three GLPs depicted difference in their accumulation among the roots of tolerant and sensitive wheat varieties after exposure to drought stress [14]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion