Integrating the dynamics of yield traits in rice in response to environmental changes

The elite haplotype OsGATA8-H coordinates nitrogen uptake and productive tiller formation in rice

Excessive nitrogen promotes the formation of nonproductive tillers in rice, which decreases nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). Developing high-NUE rice cultivars through balancing nitrogen uptake and the formation of productive tillers remains a long-standing challenge, yet how these two processes are coordinated in rice remains elusive. Here we identify the transcription factor OsGATA8 as a key coordinator of nitrogen uptake and tiller formation in rice. OsGATA8 negatively regulates nitrogen uptake by repressing transcription of the ammonium transporter gene OsAMT3.2. Meanwhile, it promotes tiller formation by repressing the transcription of OsTCP19, a negative modulator of tillering. We identify OsGATA8-H as a high-NUE haplotype with enhanced nitrogen uptake and a higher proportion of productive tillers. The geographical distribution of OsGATA8-H and its frequency change in historical accessions suggest its adaption to the fertile soil. Overall, this study provides molecular and evolutionary insights into the regulation of NUE and facilitates the breeding of rice cultivars with higher NUE.

Concurrent improvement of rice grain yield and abiotic stress tolerance by overexpression of cytokinin activating enzyme LONELY GUY (OsLOG)

Meristem activity is important for normal plant growth as well as adaptive plastic development under abiotic stresses. Cytokinin has been recognized to have a major role in regulating meristem function which is controlled by cytokinin activating enzymes by fine-tuning the concentrations and spatial distribution of its bioactive forms. It was previously reported that LONELY GUY (LOG) acts in the direct activation pathway of cytokinin in rice shoot meristems. LOG has a cytokinin specific phosphoribohydrolase activity, which transforms inactive cytokinin nucleotides into active free bases. Here, we explored the role of OsLOG in controlling meristem activity mediated by cytokinin and its effects on growth, development, and stress resilience of rice plants. Overexpression of OsLOG in rice led to significant alterations in cytokinin levels in the inflorescence meristem, leading to enhanced plant growth, biomass and grain yield under both non-stress as well as stress conditions such as drought and salinity. Moreover, our study provides insight into how overexpression of OsLOG improves the ability of plants to withstand stress. The OsLOG-overexpressing lines exhibit reduced accumulation of H2O2 along with elevated antioxidant enzyme activities, thereby maintaining better redox homeostasis under stress conditions. This ultimately reduces the negative impact of stresses on grain yield and improves harvest index, as evidenced by observations in the OsLOG-overexpressing lines. In summary, our study emphasizes the diverse role of OsLOG, not only in regulating plant growth and yield via cytokinin but also in enhancing adaptability to abiotic stresses. This highlights its potential to improve crop yield and promote sustainable agriculture.

Rice transcription factor OsWRKY37 positively regulates flowering time and grain fertility under copper deficiency

Efficient uptake, translocation, and distribution of Cu to rice (Oryza sativa) spikelets is crucial for flowering and yield production. However, the regulatory factors involved in this process remain unidentified. In this study, we isolated a WRKY transcription factor gene induced by Cu deficiency, OsWRKY37, and characterized its regulatory role in Cu uptake and transport in rice. OsWRKY37 was highly expressed in rice roots, nodes, leaf vascular bundles, and anthers. Overexpression of OsWRKY37 promoted the uptake and root-to-shoot translocation of Cu in rice under -Cu condition but not under +Cu condition. While mutation of OsWRKY37 significantly decreased Cu concentrations in the stamen, the root-to-shoot translocation and distribution ratio in brown rice affected pollen development, delayed flowering time, decreased fertility, and reduced grain yield under -Cu condition. yeast one-hybrid, transient co-expression and EMSAs, together with in situ RT-PCR and RT-qPCR analysis, showed that OsWRKY37 could directly bind to the upstream promoter region of OsCOPT6 (copper transporter) and OsYSL16 (yellow stripe-like protein) and positively activate their expression levels. Analyses of oscopt6 mutants further validated its important role in Cu uptake in rice. Our study demonstrated that OsWRKY37 acts as a positive regulator involved in the uptake, root-to-shoot translocation, and distribution of Cu through activating the expression of OsCOPT6 and OsYSL16, which is important for pollen development, flowering, fertility, and grain yield in rice under Cu deficient conditions. Our results provide a genetic strategy for improving rice yield under Cu deficient condition.

A glutathione-independent DJ-1/Pfp1 domain containing glyoxalase III, OsDJ-1C, functions in abiotic stress adaptation in rice

MAIN CONCLUSION

Overexpression of OsDJ-1C in rice improves root architecture, photosynthesis, yield and abiotic stress tolerance through modulating methylglyoxal levels, antioxidant defense, and redox homeostasis. Exposure to abiotic stresses leads to elevated methylglyoxal (MG) levels in plants, impacting seed germination and root growth. In response, the activation of NADPH-dependent aldo-keto reductase and glutathione (GSH)-dependent glyoxalase enzymes helps to regulate MG levels and reduce its toxic effects. However, detoxification may not be carried out effectively due to the limitation of GSH and NADPH in plants under stress. Recently, a novel enzyme called glyoxalase III (GLY III) has been discovered which can detoxify MG in a single step without needing GSH. To understand the physiological importance of this pathway in rice, we overexpressed the gene encoding GLYIII enzyme (OsDJ-1C) in rice. It was observed that OsDJ-1C overexpression in rice regulated MG levels under stress conditions thus, linked well with plants' abiotic stress tolerance potential. The OsDJ-1C overexpression lines displayed better root architecture, improved photosynthesis, and reduced yield penalty compared to the WT plants under salinity, and drought stress conditions. These plants demonstrated an improved GSH/GSSG ratio, reduced level of reactive oxygen species, increased antioxidant capacity, and higher anti-glycation activity thereby indicating that the GLYIII mediated MG detoxification plays a significant role in plants' ability to reduce the impact of abiotic stress. Furthermore, these findings imply the potential of OsDJ-1C in crop improvement programs.

Integrated ATAC-seq and RNA-seq data analysis identifies transcription factors related to rice stripe virus infection in Oryza sativa

Animal studies have shown that virus infection causes changes in host chromatin accessibility, but little is known about changes in chromatin accessibility of plants infected by viruses and its potential impact. Here, rice infected by rice stripe virus (RSV) was used to investigate virus-induced changes in chromatin accessibility. Our analysis identified a total of 6462 open- and 3587 closed-differentially accessible chromatin regions (DACRs) in rice under RSV infection by ATAC-seq. Additionally, by integrating ATAC-seq and RNA-seq, 349 up-regulated genes in open-DACRs and 126 down-regulated genes in closed-DACRs were identified, of which 34 transcription factors (TFs) were further identified by search of upstream motifs. Transcription levels of eight of these TFs were validated by reverse transcription-PCR. Importantly, four of these TFs (OsWRKY77, OsWRKY28, OsZFP12 and OsERF91) interacted with RSV proteins and are therefore predicted to play important roles in RSV infection. This is the first application of ATAC-seq and RNA-seq techniques to analyse changes in rice chromatin accessibility caused by RSV infection. Integrating ATAC-seq and RNA-seq provides a new approach to select candidate TFs in response to virus infection.

miRNAs and genes as molecular regulators of rice grain morphology and yield

Rice is one of the most consumed crops worldwide and the genetic and molecular basis of its grain yield attributes are well understood. Various studies have identified different yield-related parameters in rice that are regulated by the microRNAs (miRNAs). MiRNAs are endogenous small non-coding RNAs that silence gene expression during or after transcription. They control a variety of biological or genetic activities in plants including growth, development and response to stress. In this review, we have summarized the available information on the genetic control of panicle architecture and grain yield (number and morphology) in rice. The miRNA nodes that are associated with their regulation are also described while focussing on the central role of miR156-SPL node to highlight the co-regulation of two master regulators that determine the fate of panicle development. Since abiotic stresses are known to negatively affect yield, the impact of abiotic stress induced alterations on the levels of these miRNAs are also discussed to highlight the potential of miRNAs for regulating crop yields.

Jacalin-related lectin 45 (OsJRL45) isolated from 'sea rice 86' enhances rice salt tolerance at the seedling and reproductive stages

BACKGROUND

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most widely cultivated grain crops in the world that meets the caloric needs of more than half the world's population. Salt stress seriously affects rice production and threatens food security. Therefore, mining salt tolerance genes in salt-tolerant germplasm and elucidating their molecular mechanisms in rice are necessary for the breeding of salt tolerant cultivars.

RESULTS

In this study, a salt stress-responsive jacalin-related lectin (JRL) family gene, OsJRL45, was identified in the salt-tolerant rice variety 'sea rice 86' (SR86). OsJRL45 showed high expression level in leaves, and the corresponding protein mainly localized to the endoplasmic reticulum. The knockout mutant and overexpression lines of OsJRL45 revealed that OsJRL45 positively regulates the salt tolerance of rice plants at all growth stages. Compared with the wild type (WT), the OsJRL45 overexpression lines showed greater salt tolerance at the reproductive stage, and significantly higher seed setting rate and 1,000-grain weight. Moreover, OsJRL45 expression significantly improved the salt-resistant ability and yield of a salt-sensitive indica cultivar, L6-23. Furthermore, OsJRL45 enhanced the antioxidant capacity of rice plants and facilitated the maintenance of Na+-K+ homeostasis under salt stress conditions. Five proteins associated with OsJRL45 were screened by transcriptome and interaction network analysis, of which one, the transmembrane transporter Os10g0210500 affects the salt tolerance of rice by regulating ion transport-, salt stress-, and hormone-responsive proteins.

CONCLUSIONS

The OsJRL45 gene isolated from SR86 positively regulated the salt tolerance of rice plants at all growth stages, and significantly increased the yield of salt-sensitive rice cultivar under NaCl treatment. OsJRL45 increased the activity of antioxidant enzyme of rice and regulated Na+/K+ dynamic equilibrium under salinity conditions. Our data suggest that OsJRL45 may improve the salt tolerance of rice by mediating the expression of ion transport-, salt stress response-, and hormone response-related genes.

Effects of rare-earth light conversion film on the growth and fruit quality of sweet pepper in a solar greenhouse

Light is an important environmental factor influencing plant growth and development. However, artificial light supplement is difficult to spread for its high energy consumption. In recent years, rare-earth light conversion film (RPO) covering is being focused on to be a new technology to study the mechanism of light affecting plant growth and development. Compared with the polyolefin film (PO), the RPO film advanced the temperature and light environment inside the greenhouse. Ultimately, improved growth and higher yield were detected because of a higher photosynthesis, Rubisco activity and Rubisco small subunit transcription. Compared with that in the greenhouse with polyolefin film, the plant height, stem diameter and internode length of sweet pepper treated with RPO increased by 11.05, 16.96 and 25.27%, respectively. In addition, Gibberellic acid 3 (GA3), Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), Zeatin Riboside contents were increased by 11.95, 2.84 and 16.19%, respectively, compared with that with PO film. The fruit quality was improved, and the contents of ascorbic acid (Vc), soluble protein and soluble sugar were significantly higher than those of PO film, respectively, increased by 14.29, 47.10 and 67.69%. On the basis of improved fruit quality, the yield of RPO treatment increased by 20.34% compared with PO film. This study introduces an effective and low-energy method to study the mechanism and advancing plant growth in fruit vegetables production.

Genome‑wide identification, phylogenetic and expression pattern analysis of GATA family genes in foxtail millet (Setaria italica)

Background

Transcription factors (TFs) play important roles in plants. Among the major TFs, GATA plays a crucial role in plant development, growth, and stress responses. However, there have been few studies on the GATA gene family in foxtail millet (Setaria italica). The release of the foxtail millet reference genome presents an opportunity for the genome-wide characterization of these GATA genes.

Results

In this study, we identified 28 GATA genes in foxtail millet distributed on seven chromosomes. According to the classification method of GATA members in Arabidopsis, SiGATA was divided into four subfamilies, namely subfamilies I, II, III, and IV. Structural analysis of the SiGATA genes showed that subfamily III had more introns than other subfamilies, and a large number of cis-acting elements were abundant in the promoter region of the SiGATA genes. Three tandem duplications and five segmental duplications were found among SiGATA genes. Tissue-specific results showed that the SiGATA genes were mainly expressed in foxtail millet leaves, followed by peels and seeds. Many genes were significantly induced under the eight abiotic stresses, such as SiGATA10, SiGATA16, SiGATA18, and SiGATA25, which deserve further attention.

Conclusions

Collectively, these findings will be helpful for further in-depth studies of the biological function of SiGATA, and will provide a reference for the future molecular breeding of foxtail millet.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-022-08786-0.

Genome-wide identification and characterization of GATA family genes in wheat

BACKGROUND

Transcription factors GATAs were a member of zinc finger protein, which could bind DNA regulatory regions to control expression of target genes, thus influencing plant growth and development either in normal condition or environmental stresses. Recently, GATA genes have been found and functionally characterized in a number of plant species. However, little information of GATA genes were annotated in wheat.

RESULTS

In the current study, 79 GATA genes were identified in wheat, which were unevenly located on 21 chromosomes. According to the analysis of phylogenetic tree and functional domain structures, TaGATAs were classified into four subfamilies (I, II, III, and IV), consist of 35, 21, 12, and 11 genes, respectively. Meanwhile, the amino acids of 79 TaGATAs exhibited apparent difference in four subfamilies according to GATA domains comparison, gene structures and conserved motif analysis. We then analyze the gene duplication and synteny between the genomes of wheat and Arabidopsis, rice and barley, which provided insights into evolutionary characteristics. In addition, expression patterns of TaGATAs were analyzed, and they showed obvious difference in diverse tissues and abiotic stresses.

CONCLUSION

In general, these results provide useful information for future TaGATA gene function analysis, and it helps to better understand molecular breeding and stress response in wheat.

Yield-associated putative gene regulatory networks in Oryza sativa L. subsp. indica and their association with high-yielding genotypes

BACKGROUND

With the increase in population and economies of developing countries in Asia and Africa, the research towards securing future food demands is an imminent need. Among japonica and indica genotypes, indica rice varieties are largely cultivated across the globe. However, our present understanding of yield-contributing gene information stems mainly from japonica and studies on the yield potential of indica genotypes are limited.

METHODS AND RESULTS

In the present study, yield contributing orthologous genes previously characterized from japonica varieties were identified in the indica genome and analysed with binGO tool for GO biological processes categorization. Transcription factor binding site enrichment analysis in the promoters of yield-related genes of indica was performed with MEME-AME tool that revealed putative common TF regulators are enriched in flower development, two-component signalling and water deprivation biological processes. Gene regulatory networks revealed important TF-target interactions that might govern yield-related traits. Some of the identified candidate genes were validated by qRT-PCR analysis for their expression and association with yield-related traits among 16 widely cultivated popular indica genotypes. Further, SNP-metabolite-trait association analysis was performed using high-yielding indica variety Rasi. This resulted in the identification of putative SNP variations in TF regulators and targeted yield genes significantly linked with metabolite accumulation.

CONCLUSIONS

The study suggests some of the high yielding indica genotypes such as Ravi003, Rasi and Kavya could be used as potential donors in breeding programs based on yield gene expression analysis and SNP-metabolites associations.

DTH8 overexpression induces early flowering, boosts yield, and improves stress recovery in rice cv IR64

Rice yield and heading date are the two discrete traits controlled by quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Both traits are influenced by the genetic make-up of the plant as well as the environmental factors where it thrives. Drought and salinity adversely affect crop productivity in many parts of the world. Tolerance to these stresses is multigenic and complex in nature. In this study, we have characterized a QTL, DTH8 (days to heading) from Oryza sativa L. cv IR64 that encodes a putative HAP3/NF-YB/CBF subunit of CCAAT-box binding protein (HAP complex). We demonstrate DTH8 to be positively influencing the yield, heading date, and stress tolerance in IR64. DTH8 up-regulates the transcription of RFT1, Hd3a, GHD7, MOC1, and RCN1 in IR64 at the pre-flowering stage and plays a role in early flowering, increased number of tillers, enhanced panicle branching, and improved tolerance towards drought and salinity stress at the reproductive stage. The presence of DTH8 binding elements (CCAAT) in the promoter regions of all of these genes, predicted by in silico analysis of the promoter region, indicates the regulation of their expression by DTH8. In addition, DTH8 overexpressing transgenic lines showed favorable physiological parameters causing less yield penalty under stress than the WT plants. Taken together, DTH8 is a positive regulator of the network of genes related to early flowering/heading, higher yield, as well as salinity and drought stress tolerance, thus, enabling the crops to adapt to a wide range of climatic conditions.

Amelioration of plant responses to drought under elevated CO2 by rejuvenating photosynthesis and nitrogen use efficiency: implications for future climate-resilient crops

The contemporary global agriculture is beset with serious threats from diverse eco-environmental conditions causing decreases in crop yields by ~ 15%. These yield losses might increase further due to climate change scenarios leading to increased food prices triggering social unrest and famines. Urbanization and industrialization are often associated with rapid increases in greenhouse gases (GHGs) especially atmospheric CO₂ concentration [(CO₂)]. Increase in atmospheric [CO₂] significantly improved crop photosynthesis and productivity initially which vary with plant species, genotype, [CO₂] exposure time and biotic as well as abiotic stress factors. Numerous attempts have been made using different plant species to unravel the physiological, cellular and molecular effects of elevated [CO₂] as well as drought. This review focuses on plant responses to elevated [CO₂] and drought individually as well as in combination with special reference to physiology of photosynthesis including its acclimation. Furthermore, the functional role of nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and its relation to photosynthetic acclimation and crop productivity under elevated [CO₂] and drought are reviewed. In addition, we also discussed different strategies to ameliorate the limitations of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) carboxylation and RuBP regeneration. Further, improved stomatal and mesophyll conductance and NUE for enhanced crop productivity under fast changing global climate conditions through biotechnological approaches are also discussed here. We conclude that multiple gene editing approaches for key events in photosynthetic processes would serve as the best strategy to generate resilient crop plants with improved productivity under fast changing climate.

How do rice seedlings of landrace Pokkali survive in saline fields after transplantation? Physiology, biochemistry, and photosynthesis

Rice, one of the most important staple food crops in the world, is highly sensitive to soil salinity at the seedling stage. The ultimate yield of this crop is a function of the number of seedlings surviving after transplantation in saline water. Oryza sativa cv. IR64 is a high-yielding salinity-sensitive variety, while Pokkali is a landrace traditionally cultivated by the local farmers in the coastal regions in India. However, the machinery responsible for the seedling-stage tolerance in Pokkali is not understood. To bridge this gap, we subjected young seedlings of these contrasting genotypes to salinity and performed detailed investigations about their growth parameters, ion homeostasis, biochemical composition, and photosynthetic parameters after every 24 h of salinity for three days. Taken together, all the physiological and biochemical indicators, such as proline accumulation, K⁺/Na⁺ ratio, lipid peroxidation, and electrolyte leakage, clearly revealed significant differences between IR64 and Pokkali under salinity, establishing their contrasting nature at this stage. In response to salinity, the F_v/F_m ratio (maximum quantum efficiency of Photosystem II as inferred from Chl a fluorescence) and the energy conserved for the electron transport after the reduction of Q_A (the primary electron acceptor of PSII), to Q_A^-, and reduction of the end electron acceptor molecules towards the PSI (Photosystem I) electron acceptor side was higher in Pokkali than IR64 plants. These observations reflect a direct contribution of photosynthesis towards seedling-stage salinity tolerance in rice. These findings will help to breed high-yielding crops for salinity prone agricultural lands.

Activation of CDC48 and acetyltransferase encoding genes contributes to enhanced abiotic stress tolerance and improved productivity traits in rice

World-wide crop productivity is highly impacted by various extreme environmental conditions. In the present investigation, activation tagged (AT) line A10-Ds-RFP6 of rice endowed with improved agronomic attributes was tested for its tolerance ability against drought and salinity stress conditions as well as identification of genes associated with these traits. Under both drought and salinity stress conditions, A10-Ds-RFP6 line exhibited increased seed germination rates and improved plant growth characteristics at seedling, vegetative and reproductive stages as compared to wild-type (WT) plants. Moreover, A10-Ds-RFP6 revealed effective antioxidant systems resulting in decreased accumulation of reactive oxygen species and delayed stress symptoms compared to WT plants. Reduced accumulation of malondialdehyde with concomitant increase in proline and soluble sugars in A10-Ds-RFP6 line further endorse its improved stress tolerance levels. Furthermore, A10-Ds-RFP6 disclosed enhanced plant water content, photosynthetic efficiency, stomatal conductance, water use efficiency and maximum quantum yield compared to WT plants. TAIL and qRT-PCR analyses of AT rice line revealed the integration site of Ds element in the genome and increased expression levels of CDC48 and acetyltransferase genes involved in various aspects of plant development and stress tolerance. As such, the promising AT line plausibly serve as a rare genetic resource for fortifying stress tolerance and productivity traits of elite rice cultivars.

Plant Co-expression Annotation Resource: a web server for identifying targets for genetically modified crop breeding pipelines

The development of genetically modified crops (GM) includes the discovery of candidate genes through bioinformatics analysis using genomics data, gene expression, and others. Proteins of unknown function (PUFs) are interesting targets for GM crops breeding pipelines for the novelty associated with such targets and also to avoid copyright protection. One method of inferring the putative function of PUFs is by relating them to factors of interest such as abiotic stresses using orthology and co-expression networks, in a guilt-by-association manner. In this regard, we have downloaded, analyzed, and processed genomics data of 53 angiosperms, totaling 1,862,010 genes and 2,332,974 RNA. Diamond and InterproScan were used to discover 72,266 PUFs for all organisms. RNA-seq datasets related to abiotic stresses were downloaded from NCBI/GEO. The RNA-seq data was used as input to the LSTrAP software to construct co-expression networks. LSTrAP also created clusters of transcripts with correlated expression, whose members are more probably related to the molecular mechanisms associated with abiotic stresses in the plants. Orthologous groups were created (OrhtoMCL) using all 2,332,974 proteins in order to associate PUFs to abiotic stress-related clusters of co-expression and therefore infer their function in a guilt-by-association manner. A freely available web resource named "Plant Co-expression Annotation Resource" ( https://www.machado.cnptia.embrapa.br/plantannot ), Plantannot, was created to provide indexed queries to search for PUF putatively associated with abiotic stresses. The web interface also allows browsing, querying, and retrieving of public genomics data from 53 plants. We hope Plantannot to be useful for researchers trying to obtain novel GM crops resistant to climate change hazards.

Meta-Analysis of Yield-Related and N-Responsive Genes Reveals Chromosomal Hotspots, Key Processes and Candidate Genes for Nitrogen-Use Efficiency in Rice

Nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) is a function of N-response and yield that is controlled by many genes and phenotypic parameters that are poorly characterized. This study compiled all known yield-related genes in rice and mined them from the N-responsive microarray data to find 1,064 NUE-related genes. Many of them are novel genes hitherto unreported as related to NUE, including 80 transporters, 235 transcription factors (TFs), 44 MicroRNAs (miRNAs), 91 kinases, and 8 phosphatases. They were further shortlisted to 62 NUE-candidate genes following hierarchical methods, including quantitative trait locus (QTL) co-localization, functional evaluation in the literature, and protein-protein interactions (PPIs). They were localized to chromosomes 1, 3, 5, and 9, of which chromosome 1 with 26 genes emerged as a hotspot for NUE spanning 81% of the chromosomes. Further, co-localization of the NUE genes on NUE-QTLs resolved differences in the earlier studies that relied mainly on N-responsive genes regardless of their role in yield. Functional annotations and PPIs for all the 1,064 NUE-related genes and also the shortlisted 62 candidates revealed transcription, redox, phosphorylation, transport, development, metabolism, photosynthesis, water deprivation, and hormonal and stomatal function among the prominent processes. In silico expression analysis confirmed differential expression of the 62 NUE-candidate genes in a tissue/stage-specific manner. Experimental validation in two contrasting genotypes revealed that high NUE rice shows better photosynthetic performance, transpiration efficiency and internal water-use efficiency in comparison to low NUE rice. Feature Selection Analysis independently identified one-third of the common genes at every stage of hierarchical shortlisting, offering 6 priority targets to validate for improving the crop NUE.

Genome-wide identification, phylogenetic and expression pattern analysis of GATA family genes in Brassica napus

BACKGROUND

Transcription factors GATAs are involved in plant developmental processes and respond to environmental stresses through binding DNA regulatory regions to regulate their downstream genes. However, little information on the GATA genes in Brassica napus is available. The release of the reference genome of B. napus provides a good opportunity to perform a genome-wide characterization of GATA family genes in rapeseed.

RESULTS

In this study, 96 GATA genes randomly distributing on 19 chromosomes were identified in B. napus, which were classified into four subfamilies based on phylogenetic analysis and their domain structures. The amino acids of BnGATAs were obvious divergence among four subfamilies in terms of their GATA domains, structures and motif compositions. Gene duplication and synteny between the genomes of B. napus and A. thaliana were also analyzed to provide insights into evolutionary characteristics. Moreover, BnGATAs showed different expression patterns in various tissues and under diverse abiotic stresses. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) distributions of BnGATAs in a core collection germplasm are probably associated with functional disparity under environmental stress condition in different genotypes of B. napus.

CONCLUSION

The present study was investigated genomic structures, evolution features, expression patterns and SNP distributions of 96 BnGATAs. The results enrich our understanding of the GATA genes in rapeseed.

Harnessing Transcription Factors as Potential Tools to Enhance Grain Size Under Stressful Abiotic Conditions in Cereal Crops

Predicted climate change is widely cited to significantly reduce yields of the major cereal crop species in a period where demand is rapidly rising due to a growing global population. This requires exhaustive research to develop genetic resources in order to address the expected production deficiencies which will largely be driven by abiotic stress. Modification of multiple genes is an approach that can address the predicted challenges; however, it is time-consuming and costly to modify multiple genes simultaneously. Transcription factors represent a group of proteins regulating multiple genes simultaneously and are therefore promising targets to concurrently improve multiple traits concurrently, such as abiotic stress tolerance and grain size (a contributor to yield). Many studies have identified the complex role that transcription factors of multiple families have contributed toward abiotic stress tolerance or grain size, although research addressing both simultaneously is in its infancy despite its potential significance for cereal crop improvement. Here we discuss the potential role that transcription factors may contribute toward improving cereal crop productivity under adverse environmental conditions and offer research objectives that need to be addressed before the modification of transcription factors becomes routinely used to positively manipulate multiple target traits.