Physiological and molecular implications of multiple abiotic stresses on yield and quality of rice

Impact of Low Canopy, Root Temperature, and Drought at the Booting Stage on Yield, Grain Quality, Photosynthesis, and Antioxidant Responses in Rice

Rice yield is significantly affected by low temperature and drought stress. This study investigated the effects of low canopy and root temperature and/or drought stress on yield, quality, biomass, photosynthesis, and antioxidant responses in different rice genotypes viz., Huahang 31 and Yuejingsimiao 2 at the booting stage. The experiment included eight treatments, that is, the natural growth condition (T0) as a control, canopy low-temperature (CL), root low-temperature (RL), root drought (RD), and a combination of stresses. The results revealed that the RL and combined stress (CL&RL, RL&RD, and CL&RL&RD) treatments significantly decreased the yield and quality, with the CL&RL&RD treatment significantly reducing the yields of Huahang 31 and Yuejingsimiao 2 by 75.49% and 65.25%, respectively. The RL and combined stress (CL&RL, RL&RD, and CL&RL&RD) treatments significantly affected the photosynthesis parameters and increased the stem sheath dry weight while decreasing the panicle dry weight, thereby affecting rice biomass accumulation. Additionally, the combined stress treatments significantly reduced the proline content and catalase activity, thereby affecting the antioxidant response of rice. Root low-temperature stress affects rice more than canopy low-temperature stress does, and drought stress exacerbates the negative effects of other stresses on rice. Overall, root low-temperature and combined stress treatments affect the antioxidant response, thereby influencing leaf stomatal conductance, photosynthetic traits, and ultimately affecting the yield, quality, and biomass of rice. Among the two varieties, Yuejingsimiao 2 showed stronger stress resistance than Huahang 31 did. Our study provides a reference for subsequent studies on the physiology of rice under adverse stress conditions.

Double-truncated version of OsGADs leads to higher GABA accumulation and stronger stress tolerance in Oryza sativa L. var. japonica

KEY MESSAGE

Calmodulin binding domain truncation from OsGAD1 and OsGAD3 resulted in enhanced GABA accumulation, upregulated stress related genes, and improved tolerance to multiple abiotic stresses. Rice (Oryza sativa L.), a critical crop for global food security, faces significant challenges from abiotic stresses. Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), synthesized by glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), plays a vital role in stress tolerance. Truncating the calmodulin-binding domain (CaMBD) in GAD enzymes enhances GAD activity and GABA production. In this study, we developed a hybrid line, Hybrid #78, by crossing two genome-edited lines, OsGAD1ΔC #5 and OsGAD3ΔC #8, with truncated CaMBD in OsGAD1 and OsGAD3, respectively. Hybrid #78 demonstrated significantly improved survival rates in cold (25%), salinity (33%), flooding (83%), and drought (83%) stress conditions, compared with wild-type Nipponbare (0-33%), OsGAD1∆C #5 (0-66%), and OsGAD3∆C #8 (0-50%). Hybrid #78 showed the highest GABA levels during stress, with increases of 3.5-fold (cold), 3.9-fold (salinity), 5-fold (flooding), and 5-fold (drought) relative to wild-type Nipponbare and up to 2-fold higher than that of the parent lines. RNA-seq analysis from shoot tissues in control conditions identified 975 differentially expressed genes between Hybrid #78 and wild-type Nipponbare, with 450 genes uniquely expressed in the hybrid. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment revealed that upregulation in nitrogen metabolism pathways likely contributes to enhanced GABA synthesis via increased glutamate production. Hybrid #78 also showed broader gene expression variability, suggesting enhanced adaptability to stress, especially upregulation of stress-related genes, such as OsDREB, OsHSP70, and OsNAC3. These findings highlight the potential of CaMBD truncation in OsGAD1 and OsGAD3 to develop rice lines with increased GABA accumulation and resilience to multiple abiotic stresses.

Plant growth-promoting Bacillus amyloliquefaciens orchestrate homeostasis under nutrient deficiency exacerbated drought and salinity stress in Oryza sativa L. seedlings

MAIN CONCLUSION

Nutrient deficiency intensifies drought and salinity stress on rice growth. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens inoculation provides resilience through modulation in metabolic and gene regulation to enhance growth, nutrient uptake, and stress tolerance. Soil nutrient deficiencies amplify the detrimental effects of abiotic stresses, such as drought and salinity, creating substantial challenges for overall plant health and crop productivity. Traditional methods for developing stress-resistant varieties are often slow and labor-intensive. Previously, we demonstrated that plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain SN13 effectively alleviates stress induced by sub-optimum nutrient conditions in rice. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of SN13 in reducing the compounded impacts of drought and salinity under varying nutrient regimes in rice seedlings. The results demonstrated that PGPR inoculation not only improved the growth parameters, nutrient content, and physio-biochemical characteristics under nutrient-limited conditions, but also reduced the oxidative stress markers. The altered expression of stress-related and transcription factor genes (USP, DEF, CYP450, GST, MYB, and bZIP) revealed the regulatory effect of PGPR in enhancing stress tolerance through these genes. GC-MS-based untargeted metabolomic analysis revealed that PGPR significantly influenced various metabolic pathways, including galactose metabolism, fructose and mannose metabolism, and fatty acid biosynthesis pathways, suggesting that PGPR affects both energy production and stress-protective mechanisms, facilitating better growth and survival of rice seedlings.

GWAS combined with linkage analysis reveals major QTLs and candidate genes of salt tolerance in Japonica rice seedlings

Background

Soil salinization is one of the significant factors limiting high crop yields and expansion of arable land, seriously affecting global agricultural production. Rice is an essential food crop throughout the world, and its seedlings are particularly susceptible to salt stress, which can directly affect the growth and development of rice and its final yield. We used the natural population as the material for genome-wide association study (GWAS) and the recombinant inbred line (RIL) population from CD (salt sensitive)/WD20342 (salt tolerant) hybridization as the material for linkage analysis.

Results

The degree of salt tolerance was evaluated by using the relative root length (RRL), relative root number (RRN), relative root fresh weight (RRFW), and relative root dry weight (RRDW) as indicators. Fifteen and six major quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were identified by GWAS and linkage analysis, respectively. Meanwhile, the GWAS identified the lead SNP (Chr2_22340368), which was located within qRRL2 and qRRDW2 identified by linkage analysis. GWAS, combined with linkage analysis, selected a 196-kb overlapping region on chromosome 2, including 22 candidate genes. LOC_Os02g36880 was discovered as the candidate gene involved in salt tolerance by haplotype analysis, qRT-PCR, and sequence analysis. The score of salinity toxicity (SST) and seedling survival rate (SSR) were determined for CRISPR/Cas9 mutants (CR-1 and CR-15) and wild-type (ZH11), respectively.

Conclusion

The phenotypic validation indicated that LOC_Os02g36880 negatively regulated the salt tolerance at the seedling stage. This study provides resources for breeding Japonica rice to improve its response to salt stress.

Country-wide, multi-location trials of Green Super Rice lines for yield performance and stability analysis using genetic and stability parameters

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important member of the family Poaceae and more than half of world population depend for their dietary nutrition on rice. Rice cultivars with higher yield, resilience to stress and wider adaptability are essential to ensure production stability and food security. The fundamental objective of this study was to identify higher-yielding rice genotypes with stable performance and wider adaptability in a rice growing areas of Pakistan. A triplicate RCBD design experiment with 20 Green Super Rice (GSR) advanced lines was conducted at 12 rice growing ecologies in four Provinces of Pakistan. Grain yield stability performance was assessed by using different univariate and multivariate statistics. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among genotypes, locations, and G x E interaction for mean squares (p < 0.05) of major yield contributing traits. All the studied traits except for number of tillers per plant revealed higher genotypic variance than environmental variance. Broad sense heritability was estimated in the range of 44.36% to 98.60%. Based on ASV, ASI, bi, Wi2, σ2i and WAAS statistics, the genotypes G1, G4, G5, G8, G11 and G12 revealed lowest values for parametric statistics and considered more stable genotypes based on  paddy yield. The additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) model revealed significant variation (p < 0.05) for genotypes, non-signification for environment and highly significant for G × E interaction. The variation proportion of PC1 and PC2 from interaction revealed 67.2% variability for paddy yield. Based on 'mean verses stability analysis of GGE biplot', 'Which-won-where' GGE Biplot, 'discriminativeness vs. representativeness' pattern of stability, 'IPCA and WAASB/GY' ratio-based stability Heat-map, and ranking of genotypes, the genotypes G1, G2, G3, G5, G8, G10, G11 and G13 were observed ideal genotypes with yield potential more than 8 tons ha-1. Discriminativeness vs. representativeness' pattern of stability identifies two environments, E5 (D.I Khan, KPK) and E6 (Usta Muhammad, Baluchistan) were best suited for evaluating genotypic yield performance. Based on these findings we have concluded that the genotypes G1, G2, G3, G5, G8, G10, G11 and G13 could be included in the commercial varietal development process and future breeding program.

Enhancing stress resilience in rice (Oryza sativa L.) through profiling early-stage morpho-physiological and molecular responses to multiple abiotic stress tolerance

Under changing climatic conditions, crop plants are more adversely affected by a combination of various abiotic stresses than by a single abiotic stress. Therefore, it is essential to identify potential donors to multiple abiotic stresses for developing climate-resilient crop varieties. Hence, the present study was undertaken with 41 germplasm accessions comprising native landraces of Tamil Nadu, Prerelease lines and cultivars were screened independently for drought, salinity, and submergence at the seedling stage during Kharif and Rabi 2022-2023. Stress was imposed separately for these three abiotic stresses on 21-day-old seedlings and was maintained for 10 days. The studied genotypes showed a significant reduction in plant biomass (PB), Relative Growth Index (RGI), relative water content (RWC), leaf photosynthesis, chlorophyll fluorescence, and Chlorophyll Concentration Index (CCI) under drought followed by salinity and submergence. Stress-tolerant indices for drought, salinity, and submergence revealed significant variation for plant biomass. Furthermore, a set of 30 SSR markers linked to drought, salinity, and submergence QTLs has been used to characterize 41 rice germplasm accessions. Our analysis suggests a significantly high polymorphism, with 28 polymorphic markers having a 93.40% in 76 loci. The mean values of polymorphic information content (PIC), heterozygosity index (HI), marker index (MI), and resolving power (RP) were 0.369, 0.433, 1.140, and 2.877, respectively. Jaccard clustering grouped all the genotypes into two major and six subclusters. According to STRUCTURE analysis, all genotypes were grouped into two major clusters, which are concurrent with a very broad genetic base (K = 2). Statistically significant marker-trait associations for biomass were observed for five polymorphic markers, viz., RM211, RM212 (drought), RM10694 (salinity), RM219, and RM21 (submergence). Similarly, significant markers for relative shoot length were observed for RM551 (drought), RM10694 (salinity), and ART5 (submergence). Notably, the genotypes Mattaikar, Varigarudan samba, Arupatham samba, and APD19002 were identified as potential donors for multiple abiotic stress tolerance. Thus, identifying the genetic potential of germplasm could be useful for enhancing stress resilience in rice.

Revisiting plant stress memory: mechanisms and contribution to stress adaptation

Highly repetitive adverse environmental conditions are encountered by plants multiple times during their lifecycle. These repetitive encounters with stresses provide plants an opportunity to remember and recall the experiences of past stress-associated responses, resulting in better adaptation towards those stresses. In general, this phenomenon is known as plant stress memory. According to our current understanding, epigenetic mechanisms play a major role in plants stress memory through DNA methylation, histone, and chromatin remodeling, and modulating non-coding RNAs. In addition, transcriptional, hormonal, and metabolic-based regulations of stress memory establishment also exist for various biotic and abiotic stresses. Plant memory can also be generated by priming the plants using various stressors that improve plants' tolerance towards unfavorable conditions. Additionally, the application of priming agents has been demonstrated to successfully establish stress memory. However, the interconnection of all aspects of the underlying mechanisms of plant stress memory is not yet fully understood, which limits their proper utilization to improve the stress adaptations in plants. This review summarizes the recent understanding of plant stress memory and its potential applications in improving plant tolerance towards biotic and abiotic stresses.

S, Sharma VK. Genome-wide dissection of AT-hook motif nuclear-localized gene family and their expression profiling for drought and salt stress in rice (Oryza sativa)

AT-hook motif nuclear localized (AHL) genes are functionally very less explored, but their nature is very diverse. In the present study, we identified 20 AHL genes in rice. Phylogenetic analyses and evolutionary classification of AHL genes showed that they are conserved in plants, but the number of genes is still expanding in different crops and regulating new biological functions. Gene structure analysis showed that OsAHLs are with and without intron types of genes, suggesting that AHL genes added intron during evolution for neofunctionalization. The cis analysis of OsAHL genes suggested its motif diversity. In order to understand the function, 19 transcriptomes were identified from various tissues and different developmental stages of rice, and they were divided into eight groups by different temporal and spatial expression. Through co-expression analysis, 11 OsAHLs and 13 novel genes with intricate networks that control many biological pathways in rice were identified. The interactions of OsAHL proteins showed that they co-regulate important processes including flowering, reproductive organ development, and photosynthesis activity. The functionality of all 20 genes of OsAHL for drought and salt stress in leaf tissues of two contrasting genotypes (IR64 and NL44) of rice was studied using qRT-PCR. The result clearly showed significant upregulation of OsAHL genes under drought and salt conditions over the control. The differential expression between IR64 and NL44 showed a significant upregulation of OsAHL genes in NL44 as compared to the IR64 genotype under drought and salt stress. Overall, the result indicates that AHL genes might be involved in mediating drought and salt-signaling transduction pathways. The drought- and salt-tolerant nature of NL44 was also confirmed by expression profiling.

Pyramiding of transcription factor, PgHSF4, and stress-responsive genes of p68, Pg47, and PsAKR1 impart multiple abiotic stress tolerance in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, and heat stress significantly affect rice crop growth and production. Under uncertain climatic conditions, the concurrent multiple abiotic stresses at different stages of rice production became a major challenge for agriculture. Hence, improving rice's multiple abiotic stress tolerance is essential to overcome unprecedented challenges under adverse environmental conditions. A significant challenge for rice breeding programs in improving abiotic stress tolerance involves multiple traits and their complexity. Multiple traits must be targeted to improve multiple stress tolerance in rice and uncover the mechanisms. With this hypothesis, in the present study gene stacking approach is used to integrate multiple traits involved in stress tolerance. The multigene transgenics co-expressing Pennisetum glaucum 47 (Pg47), Pea 68 (p68), Pennisetum glaucum Heat Shock Factor 4(PgHSF4), and Pseudomonas Aldo Keto Reductase 1 (PsAKR1) genes in the rice genotype (AC39020) were developed using the in-planta transformation method. The promising transgenic lines maintained higher yields under semi-irrigated aerobic cultivation (moisture stress). These 15 promising transgenic rice seedlings showed improved shoot and root growth traits under salinity, accelerating aging, temperature, and oxidative stress. They showed better physiological characteristics, such as chlorophyll content, membrane stability, and lower accumulation of reactive oxygen species, under multiple abiotic stresses than wild-type. Enhanced expression of transgenes and other stress-responsive downstream genes such as HSP70, SOD, APX, SOS, PP2C, and P5CS in transgenic lines suggest the possible molecular mechanism for imparting the abiotic stress tolerance. This study proved that multiple genes stacking as a novel strategy induce several mechanisms and responsible traits to overcome multiple abiotic stresses. This multigene combination can potentially improve tolerance to multiple abiotic stress conditions and pave the way for developing climate-resilient crops.

Plants' Response to Abiotic Stress: Mechanisms and Strategies

Abiotic stress is the adverse effect of any abiotic factor on a plant in a given environment, impacting plants' growth and development. These stress factors, such as drought, salinity, and extreme temperatures, are often interrelated or in conjunction with each other. Plants have evolved mechanisms to sense these environmental challenges and make adjustments to their growth in order to survive and reproduce. In this review, we summarized recent studies on plant stress sensing and its regulatory mechanism, emphasizing signal transduction and regulation at multiple levels. Then we presented several strategies to improve plant growth under stress based on current progress. Finally, we discussed the implications of research on plant response to abiotic stresses for high-yielding crops and agricultural sustainability. Studying stress signaling and regulation is critical to understand abiotic stress responses in plants to generate stress-resistant crops and improve agricultural sustainability.

Impact of biofertilisers on iron homeostasis and grain quality in the rice variety Uma under Elevated CO2

The diminishing nutritional quality of rice with increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO₂ is currently a major global concern. The present study was designed with the objective of assessing the impact of biofertilisers on grain quality and iron homeostasis in rice under elevated CO₂. A completely randomised design with four treatments ([KAU, POP (control), POP+Azolla, POP+PGPR, and POP+AMF]), each replicated three times under ambient and elevated CO₂ conditions, was followed. The analysed data revealed that yield, grain quality, and iron uptake and translocation were modified in an unfavourable manner under elevated CO₂, which was reflected in the lower quality and iron content of the grains. The response of iron homeostasis in the experimental plants to the application of biofertilisers, especially plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), under elevated CO₂ strongly suggests the possibility of utilising them for designing iron management strategies for achieving higher quality in rice.

Identification of simple sequence repeat markers linked to heat tolerance in rice using bulked segregant analysis in F2 population of NERICA-L 44 × Uma

The damage caused by high temperature is one of the most important abiotic stress affecting rice production. Reproductive stage of rice is highly susceptible to high temperature. The present investigation was undertaken to identify polymorphic microsatellite markers (SSR) associated with heat tolerance. The rice cultivars NERICA- L 44 (heat tolerant) and Uma (heat susceptible) were crossed to generate F¹ and F² populations. The F² population was subjected to heat stress at >38°C and the 144 F² plants were evaluated for their tolerance. The results note that the mean of the F² population was influenced by the tolerant parent with regards to the traits of plant height, membrane stability index, photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, evapotranspiration rate, pollen viability, spikelet fertility and 1000 grain weight. Ten each of the extremely susceptible and tolerant plants were selected based on the spikelet fertility percentage. Their DNA was pooled into tolerant and susceptible bulks and Bulked Segregant Analysis (BSA) was carried out using 100 SSR markers to check for polymorphism. The survey revealed a polymorphism of 18% between the parents. RM337, RM10793, RM242, RM5749, RM6100, RM490, RM470, RM473, RM222 and RM556 are some of the prominent markers that were found to be polymorphic between the parents and the bulks. We performed gene annotation and enrichment analysis of identified polymorphic markers. Result revealed that the sequence specific site of that chromosome mostly enriched with biological processes like metabolic pathway, molecular mechanism, and subcellular function. Among that RM337 was newly reported marker for heat tolerance. Expression analysis of two genes corresponds to RM337 revealed that LOP1 (LOC_Os08g01330) was linked to high temperature tolerance in rice. The results demonstrate that BSA using SSR markers is useful in identifying genomic regions that contribute to thermotolerance.