Rice Gene Confers Water-deficit Stress Tolerance in Arabidopsis

Researchers from the University of Delhi South Campus and the National Institute of Plant Genome Research in India report that overexpression of OsSAP10 leads to water deficit tolerance in Arabidopsis. Their findings are published in Plant Cell Reports.

The function of stress-associated proteins (SAPs) in multiple abiotic stresses have been clearly established through several studies. However, their mechanisms of action are still to be elucidated. To provide more insights on this, stress-inducible rice gene OsSAP10 was picked for functional and molecular characterization, particularly during water-deficit scenarios.

Transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing OsSAP10 were developed and analyzed. The plants exhibited enhanced tolerance to water-deficit stress during various stages of growth and development. The transgenic plants also showed improved survival rate, increased relative water content, decreased water loss, and hypersensitivity to ABA treatment. Further analyses revealed that OsSAP10 interacts with proteins linked in the proteasomal pathway.

The findings of the study suggest that OsSAP10 has the potential to improve water-deficit stress tolerance in plants, and positively regulates ABA and water-deficit stress signaling through protein–protein interactions.

Read more findings in Plant Cell Reports.