Inactivating transcription factor OsWRKY5 enhances drought tolerance through abscisic acid signaling pathways

During crop cultivation, water-deficit conditions retard growth, thus reducing crop productivity. Therefore, uncovering the mechanisms behind drought tolerance is a critical task for crop improvement. Here, we show that the rice (Oryza sativa) WRKY transcription factor OsWRKY5 negatively regulates drought tolerance. We determined that OsWRKY5 was mainly expressed in developing leaves at the seedling and heading stages, and that its expression was reduced by drought stress and by treatment with NaCl, mannitol, and abscisic acid (ABA). Notably, the genome-edited loss-of-function alleles oswrky5-2 and oswrky5-3 conferred enhanced drought tolerance, measured as plant growth under water-deficit conditions. Conversely, the overexpression of OsWRKY5 in the activation-tagged line oswrky5-D resulted in higher susceptibility under the same conditions. The loss of OsWRKY5 activity increased sensitivity to ABA, thus promoting ABA-dependent stomatal closure. Transcriptome deep sequencing and reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction analyses demonstrated that the expression of abiotic stress-related genes including rice MYB2 (OsMYB2) was upregulated in oswrky5 knockout mutants and downregulated in oswrky5-D mutants. Moreover, dual-luciferase, yeast one-hybrid, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays showed that OsWRKY5 directly binds to the W-box sequences in the promoter region of OsMYB2 and represses OsMYB2 expression, thus downregulating genes downstream of OsMYB2 in the ABA signaling pathways. Our results demonstrate that OsWRKY5 functions as a negative regulator of ABA-induced drought stress tolerance, strongly suggesting that inactivation of OsWRKY5 or manipulation of key OsWRKY5 targets could be useful to improve drought tolerance in rice cultivars.Y

The Rice CHD3/Mi-2 Chromatin Remodeling Factor Rolled Fine Striped Promotes Flowering Independent of Photoperiod

Genetic studies have revealed that chromatin modifications affect flowering time, but the underlying mechanisms by which chromatin remodeling factors alter flowering remain largely unknown in rice (Oryza sativa). Here, we show that Rolled Fine Striped (RFS), a chromodomain helicase DNA-binding 3 (CHD3)/Mi-2 subfamily ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factor, promotes flowering in rice. Diurnal expression of RFS peaked at night under short-day (SD) conditions and at dawn under long-day (LD) conditions. The rfs-1 and rfs-2 mutants (derived from different genetic backgrounds) displayed a late-flowering phenotype under SD and LD conditions. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis revealed that among the flowering time-related genes, the expression of the major floral repressor Grain number and heading date 7 (Ghd7) was mainly upregulated in rfs mutants, resulting in downregulation of its downstream floral inducers, including Early heading date 1 (Ehd1), Heading date 3a (Hd3a), and Rice FLOWERING LOCUS T 1 (RFT1). The rfs mutation had pleiotropic negative effects on rice grain yield and yield components, such as plant height and fertility. Taking these observations together, we propose that RFS participates in multiple aspects of rice development, including the promotion of flowering independent of photoperiod

7-Hydroxymethyl chlorophyll a reductase functions in metabolic channeling of chlorophyll breakdown intermediates during leaf senescence

During natural or dark-induced senescence, chlorophyll degradation causes leaf yellowing. Recent evidence indicates that chlorophyll catabolic enzymes (CCEs) interact with the photosynthetic apparatus; for example, five CCEs (NYC1, NOL, PPH, PAO and RCCR) interact with LHCII. STAY-GREEN (SGR) and CCEs interact with one another in senescing chloroplasts; this interaction may allow metabolic channeling of potentially phototoxic chlorophyll breakdown intermediates. 7-Hydroxymethyl chlorophyll a reductase (HCAR) also acts as a CCE, but HCAR functions during leaf senescence remain unclear. Here we show that in Arabidopsis, HCAR-overexpressing plants exhibited accelerated leaf yellowing and, conversely, hcar mutants stayed green during dark-induced senescence. Moreover, HCAR interacted with LHCII in in vivo pull-down assays, and with SGR, NYC1, NOL and RCCR in yeast two-hybrid assays, indicating that HCAR is a component of the proposed SGR-CCE-LHCII complex, which acts in chlorophyll breakdown. Notably, HCAR and NOL are expressed throughout leaf development and are drastically down-regulated during dark-induced senescence, in contrast with SGR, NYC1, PPH and PAO, which are up-regulated during dark-induced senescence. Moreover, HCAR and NOL are highly up-regulated during greening of etiolated seedlings, strongly suggesting a major role for NOL and HCAR in the chlorophyll cycle during vegetative stages, possibly in chlorophyll turnover

Casein Kinases I and 2 alpha Phosphorylate Oryza Sativa Pseudo-Response Regulator 37 (OsPRR37) in Photoperiodic Flowering in Rice

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/.Flowering time (or heading date) is controlled by intrinsic genetic programs in response to environmental cues, such as photoperiod and temperature. Rice, a facultative shortday (SD) plant, flowers early in SD and late in long-day (LD) conditions. Casein kinases (CKs) generally act as positive regulators in many signaling pathways in plants. In rice, Heading date 6 (Hd6) and Hd16 encode CK2α and CKI, respectively, and mainly function to delay flowering time. Additionally, the major LD-dependent floral repressors Hd2/Oryza sativa Pseudo-Response Regulator 37 (OsPRR37; hereafter PRR37) and Ghd7 also confer strong photoperiod sensitivity. In floral induction, Hd16 acts upstream of Ghd7 and CKI interacts with and phosphorylates Ghd7. In addition, Hd6 and Hd16 also act upstream of Hd2. However, whether CKI and CK2α directly regulate the function of PRR37 remains unclear. Here, we use in vitro pull-down and in vivo bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays to show that CKI and CK2α interact with PRR37. We further use in vitro kinase assays to show that CKI and CK2α phosphorylate different regions of PRR37. Our results indicate that direct posttranslational modification of PRR37 mediates the genetic interactions between these two protein kinases and PRR37. The significance of CK-mediated phosphorylation for PRR37 and Ghd7 function is discussed.OAIID:oai:osos.snu.ac.kr:snu2015-01/102/0000003606/1ADJUST_YN:YEMP_ID:A002118DEPT_CD:517CITE_RATE:2.09FILENAME:2015-1 hd2-hd6-hd16 (mol cells).pdfDEPT_NM:식물생산과학부SCOPUS_YN:YCONFIRM:

Rice FLAVIN-BINDING, KELCH REPEAT, F-BOX 1 (OsFKF1) promotes flowering independent of photoperiod

In the facultative long-day (LD) plant Arabidopsis thaliana, FLAVIN-BINDING, KELCH REPEAT, F-BOX 1 (FKF1) is activated by blue light and promotes flowering through the transcriptional and post-translational regulation of CONSTANS under inductive LD conditions. By contrast, the facultative short day (SD) plant rice (Oryza sativa) flowers early under inductive SD and late under non-inductive LD conditions; the regulatory function of OsFKF1 remains elusive. Here we show that osfkf1 mutants flower late under SD, LD and natural LD conditions. Transcriptional analysis revealed that OsFKF1 up-regulates the expression of the floral activator Ehd2 and down-regulates the expression of the floral repressor Ghd7; these regulators up- and downregulate Ehd1 expression, respectively. Moreover, OsFKF1 can up-regulate Ehd1 expression under blue light treatment, without affecting the expression of Ehd2 and Ghd7. In contrast to the LD-specific floral activator Arabidopsis FKF1, OsFKF1 likely acts as an autonomous floral activator because it promotes flowering independent of photoperiod, probably via its distinct roles in controlling the expression of rice-specific genes including Ehd2, Ghd7 and Ehd1. Like Arabidopsis FKF1, which interacts with GI and CDF1, OsFKF1 also interacts with OsGI and OsCDF1 (also termed OsDOF12).Thus,we have identified similar and distinct roles of FKF1 in Arabidopsis and rice.OAIID:oai:osos.snu.ac.kr:snu2015-01/102/0000003606/5ADJUST_YN:NEMP_ID:A002118DEPT_CD:517CITE_RATE:6.96FILENAME:2015-6 osfkf1 (plant cell environ).pdfDEPT_NM:식물생산과학부SCOPUS_YN:NCONFIRM:

Rice NARROW LEAF1 Regulates Leaf and Adventitious Root Development

To improve our understanding of the molecular-genetic mechanisms governing leaf and root development in rice (Oryza sativa), we investigated narrow leaf1 (nal1), a pleiotropic mutant with short and narrow leaves, semi-dwarf stature, and fewer adventitious (or crown) roots. The narrow leaf5 (nal5) and nal1 mutants display similar defects in leaf and root development. Sequence analysis and complementation tests showed that nal5 is allelic to nal1. NAL1 encodes a putative trypsin-like serine/cysteine protease; the coding region of nal5 contains a missense mutation and nal1 harbors a 30-bp deletion. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed that nal1 mutants have altered expression levels of many OSHB, YABBY, and PIN-FORMED genes associated with leaf development and auxin transport. In addition, expression levels of CROWN ROOTLESS genes are markedly down-regulated in nal1. These results indicate that NAL1 functions in the regulation of both leaf and adventitious root development at the transcriptional level. Notably, exogenous auxin treatment rescued the reduced number of adventitious roots in nal1. Based on our results, we propose that NAL1 plays important roles in adventitious root development in rice.This work was supported by a grant from the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (Plant Molecular Breeding Center No. PJ008128), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.OAIID:oai:osos.snu.ac.kr:snu2014-01/102/0000003606/1SEQ:1PERF_CD:SNU2014-01EVAL_ITEM_CD:102USER_ID:0000003606ADJUST_YN:YEMP_ID:A002118DEPT_CD:517CITE_RATE:5.319FILENAME:2014 nal1 (plant mol biol rep).pdfDEPT_NM:식물생산과학부EMAIL:[email protected]:

The impact of corrosion on marine vapour recovery systems by VOC generated from ships

Marine emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) have received much attention because the International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires the installation of vapour emission control systems for the loading of crude oils or petroleum products onto ships. It was recently recognised that significant corrosion occurs inside these vapour emission control systems, which can cause severe clogging issues. In this study, we analysed the chemical composition of drain water sampled from currently operating systems to investigate the primary causes of corrosion in vapour recovery systems. Immersion and electrochemical tests were conducted under simulated conditions with various real drain water samples, and the impact of corrosion on the marine vapour recovery system was carefully investigated. Moreover, corrosion tests on alternative materials were conducted to begin identifying appropriate substitutes. Thermodynamic calculations showed the effects of environmental factors on the production of condensed sulphuric acid from VOC gas. A model of sulphuric acid formation and accumulation by the characteristics of VOC from crude oil and flue gas is suggested. Keywords: Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), Vapour emission control system, Vapour recovery system, Corrosion, Sulphuric aci

Quantitative Trait Locus Mapping and Candidate Gene Analysis for Plant Architecture Traits Using Whole Genome Re-Sequencing in Rice

Plant breeders have focused on improving plant architecture as an effective means to increase crop yield. Here, we identify the main-effect quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for plant shape-related traits in rice (Oryza sativa) and find candidate genes by applying whole genome re-sequencing of two parental cultivars using next-generation sequencing. To identify QTLs influencing plant shape, we analyzed six traits: plant height, tiller number, panicle diameter, panicle length, flag leaf length, and flag leaf width. We performed QTL analysis with 178 F7 recombinant in-bred lines (RILs) from a cross of japonica rice line 'SNUSG1' and indica rice line 'Milyang23'. Using 131 molecular markers, including 28 insertion/deletion markers, we identified 11 main- and 16 minor-effect QTLs for the six traits with a threshold LOD value > 2.8. Our sequence analysis identified fifty-four candidate genes for the main-effect QTLs. By further comparison of coding sequences and meta-expression profiles between japonica and indica rice varieties, we finally chose 15 strong candidate genes for the 11 main-effect QTLs. Our study shows that the whole-genome sequence data substantially enhanced the efficiency of polymorphic marker development for QTL fine-mapping and the identification of possible candidate genes. This yields useful genetic resources for breeding high-yielding rice cultivars with improved plant architecture.OAIID:oai:osos.snu.ac.kr:snu2014-01/102/0000003606/3SEQ:3PERF_CD:SNU2014-01EVAL_ITEM_CD:102USER_ID:0000003606ADJUST_YN:NEMP_ID:A002118DEPT_CD:517CITE_RATE:2.21FILENAME:2014 qtl (mol cells-lim jh).pdfDEPT_NM:식물생산과학부SCOPUS_YN:YCONFIRM:

Arabidopsis STAY-GREEN2 is a negative regulator of chlorophyll degradation during leaf senescence

Chlorophyll (Chl) degradation causes leaf yellowing during senescence or under stress conditions. For Chl breakdown, STAY-GREEN1 (SGR1) interacts with Chl catabolic enzymes (CCEs) and light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) at the thylakoid membrane, possibly to allow metabolic channeling of potentially phototoxic Chl breakdown intermediates. Among these Chl catabolic components, SGR1 acts as a key regulator of leaf yellowing. In addition to SGR1 (At4g22920), the Arabidopsis thaliana genome contains an additional homolog, SGR2 (At4g11910), whose biological function remains elusive. Under senescence-inducing conditions, SGR2 expression is highly up-regulated, similarly to SGR1 expression. Here we show that SGR2 function counteracts SGR1 activity in leaf Chl degradation; SGR2-overexpressing plants stayed green and the sgr2-1 knockout mutant exhibited early leaf yellowing under age-, dark-, and stress-induced senescence conditions. Like SGR1, SGR2 interacted with LHCII but, in contrast to SGR1, SGR2 interactions with CCEs were very limited. Furthermore, SGR1 and SGR2 formed homo- or heterodimers, strongly suggesting a role for SGR2 in negatively regulating Chl degradation by possibly interfering with the proposed CCE-recruiting function of SGR1. Our data indicate an antagonistic evolution of the functions of SGR1 and SGR2 in Arabidopsis to balance Chl catabolism in chloroplasts with the dismantling and remobilizing of other cellular components in senescing leaf cells