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Sodium sequestration confers salinity tolerance in an ancestral wild rice

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-21, 00:51 authored by Solis, CA, Yong, M-T, Venkataraman, G, Milham, P, Meixue ZhouMeixue Zhou, Svetlana ShabalaSvetlana Shabala, Holford, P, Sergey ShabalaSergey Shabala, Chen, Z-H
Wild rice Oryza rufipogon, a progenitor of cultivated rice Oryza sativa L., possesses superior salinity tolerance and is a potential donor for breeding salinity tolerance traits in rice. However, a mechanistic basis of salinity tolerance in this donor species has not been established. Here, we examined salinity tolerance from the early vegetative stage to maturity in O. rufipogon in comparison with a salt-susceptible (Koshihikari) and a salt-tolerant (Reiziq) variety of O. sativa. We assessed their phylogeny and agronomical traits, photosynthetic performance, ion contents, as well as gene expression in response to salinity stress. Salt-tolerant O. rufipogon exhibited efficient leaf photosynthesis and less damage to leaf tissues during the course of salinity treatment. In addition, O. rufipogon showed a significantly higher tissue Na+ accumulation that is achieved by vacuolar sequestration compared to the salt tolerant O. sativa indica subspecies. These findings are further supported by the upregulation of genes involved with ion transport and sequestration (e.g. high affinity K+ transporter 1;4 [HKT1;4], Na+/H+ exchanger 1 [NHX1] and vacuolar H+-ATPase c [VHA-c]) in salt-tolerant O. rufipogon as well as by the close phylogenetic relationship of key salt-responsive genes in O. rufipogon to these in salt-tolerant wild rice species such as O. coarctata. Thus, the high accumulation of Na+ in the leaves of O. rufipogon acts as a cheap osmoticum to minimize the high energy cost of osmolyte biosynthesis and excessive reactive oxygen species production. These mechanisms demonstrated that O. rufipogon has important traits that can be used for improving salinity tolerance in cultivated rice.

History

Publication title

Physiologia Plantarum

Volume

172

Pagination

1594-1608

ISSN

0031-9317

Department/School

Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA)

Publisher

Blackwell Munksgaard

Place of publication

35 Norre Sogade, Po Box 2148, Copenhagen, Denmark, Dk-1016

Rights statement

© 2021 Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society

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  • Restricted

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