Abstract
BackgroundLeaf senescence is a highly complex and meticulous regulatory process, and the disruption of any factor involved in leaf senescence might lead to premature or delayed leaf senescence and thus result in reduced or increased crop yields. Despite sincere efforts by scientists, there remain many unsolved problems related to the regulatory factors and molecular mechanisms of leaf senescence.ResultsThis study successfully revealed that OsHXK1 was highly expressed in senescent leaves of rice. The upregulation of OsHXK1 led to premature senescence of rice leaves, a decreased level of chlorophyll, and damage to the chloroplast structure. The overexpression of OsHXK1 resulted in increases in glucose and ROS levels and produced programmed cell death (PCD) signals earlier at the booting stage. Further analysis showed that expression level of the respiratory burst oxidase homolog (RBOH) genes and OsGLO1 were increased in OsHXK1-overexpressing plants at the booting stage.ConclusionsOverall, the outcomes of this study suggested that OsHXK1 could act as a positive regulator of rice leaf senescence by mediating glucose accumulation and inducing an increase in ROS.
Highlights
Leaf senescence is a highly complex and meticulous regulatory process, and the disruption of any factor involved in leaf senescence might lead to premature or delayed leaf senescence and result in reduced or increased crop yields
We reported that OsHXK1 can regulate the initiation of programmed cell death (PCD) signaling in the anther tapetum and regulate rice yield and photosynthesis [33, 34], but the relationship of OsHXK1 with leaf senescence and metabolic regulation in rice remains to be confirmed
OsHXK1 is highly expressed in senescent leaves As described previously, OsHXK1 (Os07g0446800) regulates the initiation of tapetal programmed cell death (PCD) in rice anthers and regulates rice photosynthesis [33, 34]
Summary
Leaf senescence is a highly complex and meticulous regulatory process, and the disruption of any factor involved in leaf senescence might lead to premature or delayed leaf senescence and result in reduced or increased crop yields. Zheng et al BMC Plant Biology (2021) 21:580 senescence-related genes to regulate chlorophyll degradation, leading to leaf senescence via the abscisic acid (ABA) pathway [9]. SGR (stay-green-rice) was the first cloned gene that is upregulated in senescent leaves of rice, which affects the degradation rate of chlorophyll in leaves [10]. Common changes caused by these genes include the degradation of chlorophyll, accumulation of reactive oxygen species, carbon, and nitrogen imbalances, and responses to hormones in a coordinated manner at the cellular and organismal levels. The identification of premature senescence genes is of great significance to explore the mechanism of premature senescence and improve the yield of rice
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