Towards deepening of multi-omics integrated approach in root system to develop climate-resilient rice

Root is the only organ to uptake water and nutrients from soil. Root system is crucial for plants to survive and/or adapt to environmental stresses, therefore, root system architecture (RSA) is an important breeding target for developing climate-resilient rice. Since the rice genome has been completely sequenced, many genes for root development were cloned and characterized so far. In addition, with the advances in technologies related to omics analysis such as high-throughput sequencer, transcriptome analysis of roots has also been progressed. In contrast, high-throughput root phenotyping has not been established in not only rice but also whole plants because root is hidden underground. This should be a bottleneck for utilizing multi-omics integrated approach for molecular breeding of RSA. We first summarize previous transcriptome analysis for root development under various abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, heat etc. and overview current status of root phenotyping technology and modelling in rice. These knowledges would allow us to contemplate a possibility of applying of integrated multi-omics data of RSA to molecular breeding of climate-resilient rice