OsOLP1 contributes to drought tolerance in rice by regulating ABA biosynthesis and lignin accumulation

Jianpei Yan, Vincent Ninkuu, Zhenchao Fu, Tengfeng Yang, Jie Ren, Guangyue Li, Xiufen Yang, Hongmei Zeng

Front Plant Sci.; 2023 May 30; 14:1163939. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1163939.

Abstract

Rice, as a major staple crop, employs multiple strategies to enhance drought tolerance and subsequently increase yield. Osmotin-like proteins have been shown to promote plant resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. However, the drought resistance mechanism of osmotin-like proteins in rice remains unclear. This study identified a novel osmotin-like protein, OsOLP1, that conforms to the structure and characteristics of the osmotin family and is induced by drought and NaCl stress. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing and overexpression lines were used to investigate the impact of OsOLP1 on drought tolerance in rice. Compared to wild-type plants, transgenic rice plants overexpressing OsOLP1 showed high drought tolerance with leaf water content of up to 65%, and a survival rate of 53.1% by regulating 96% stomatal closure and more than 2.5-fold proline content promotion through the accumulation of 1.5-fold endogenous ABA, and enhancing about 50% lignin synthesis. However, OsOLP1 knockout lines showed severely reduced ABA content, decreased lignin deposition, and weakened drought tolerance. In conclusion, the finding confirmed that OsOLP1 drought-stress modulation relies on ABA accumulation, stomatal regulation, proline, and lignin accumulation. These results provide new insights into our perspective on rice drought tolerance.

See https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37324705/