Mutation of OsGIGANTEA Leads to Enhanced Tolerance to Polyethylene Glycol-Generated Osmotic Stress in Rice.

Shuai Li,Lian Zhou,Huixia Shou,Wenhao Yue,Wenmin Qiu,Min Wang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2016.00465

Shuai Li, Lian Zhou + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2016.00465

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Abstract

Water deficit is one of the most important environmental stresses limiting plant growth and crop yield. While the identification of many key factors involved in the plant water deficit response has greatly increased our knowledge about the regulation system, the mechanisms underlying dehydration tolerance in plants are still not well understood. In our current study, we investigated the roles of the key flowering time regulator, OsGIGANTEA (OsGI), in the osmotic stress tolerance in rice. Results showed that mutation of OsGI conferred tolerance to osmotic stress generated by polyethylene glycol (PEG), increased proline and sucrose contents, and accelerated stomata movement. In addition, qRT-PCR and microarray analysis revealed that the transcript abundance of some osmotic stress response genes, such as OsDREB1E, OsAP37, OsAP59, OsLIP9, OsLEA3, OsRAB16A, and OsSalT, was significantly higher in osgi than in WT plants, suggesting that OsGI might be a negative regulator in the osmotic stress response in rice.

Highlights

Water availability is a critical environmental factor for plant growth and development
To confirm that the growth defects were caused by the mutation in OsGI, genetic complementation was carried out by introducing the OsGI coding sequence under control of the CaMV35S promoter into osgi mutants in two transgenic events, L1 and L2
We investigated the role of a key flowering time regulator, OsGI, in osmotic stress tolerance in rice

Summary

Introduction

Water availability is a critical environmental factor for plant growth and development. A promising approach to enhance plant tolerance to dehydration stresses is the modulation of genes responsive to water deficiency (Yamaguchi-Shinozaki et al, 1995; Shinozaki et al, 1998). Several instances of crosstalk between the osmotic stress response and other signaling pathways, such as abscisic acid (ABA) signaling and flowering time regulation, have been identified (Ikegami et al, 2009; Fujita et al, 2011). GIGANTEA (GI) is regarded as a key component of flowering time regulation in many plant species (Fowler et al, 1999; Hayama et al, 2003; Hecht et al, 2007; Higuchi et al, 2011). In Arabidopsis, GI, CONSTANS (CO), and FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) control photoperiodic

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