Kim JH, Lim SD, Jung KH, Jang CS. Overexpression of a C3HC4-type E3-ubiquitin ligase contributes to salinity tolerance by modulating Na
+ homeostasis in rice.
PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM 2023;
175:e14075. [PMID:
38148225 DOI:
10.1111/ppl.14075]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2023] [Revised: 09/12/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 12/28/2023]
Abstract
Soil salinity has a negative effect on crop yield. Therefore, plants have evolved many strategies to overcome decreases in yield under saline conditions. Among these, E3-ubiquitin ligase regulates salt tolerance. We characterized Oryza sativa Really Interesting New Gene (RING) Finger C3HC4-type E3 ligase (OsRFPHC-4), which plays a positive role in improving salt tolerance. The expression of OsRFPHC-4 was downregulated by high NaCl concentrations and induced by abscisic acid (ABA) treatment. GFP-fused OsRFPHC-4 was localized to the plasma membrane of rice protoplasts. OsRFPHC-4 encodes a cellular protein with a C3HC4-RING domain with E3 ligase activity. However, its variant OsRFPHC-4C161A does not possess this activity. OsRFPHC-4-overexpressing plants showed enhanced salt tolerance due to low accumulation of Na+ in both roots and leaves, low Na+ transport in the xylem sap, high accumulation of proline and soluble sugars, high activity of reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging enzymes, and differential regulation of Na+ /K+ transporter expression compared to wild-type (WT) and osrfphc-4 plants. In addition, OsRFPHC-4-overexpressing plants showed higher ABA sensitivity under exogenous ABA treatment than WT and osrfphc-4 plants. Overall, these results suggest that OsRFPHC-4 contributes to the improvement of salt tolerance and Na+ /K+ homeostasis via the regulation of changes in Na+ /K+ transporters.
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