AUTHOR=Wang Huanhuan , Lu Shan , Guan Xiangyu , Jiang Yuan , Wang Bin , Hua Jian , Zou Baohong 

TITLE=Dehydration-Responsive Element Binding Protein 1C, 1E, and 1G Promote Stress Tolerance to Chilling, Heat, Drought, and Salt in Rice

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.851731

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2022.851731

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>The <italic>dehydration-responsive element binding protein 1</italic> (<italic>DREB1</italic>)/<italic>C-repeat-binding factor</italic> (<italic>CBF</italic>) genes are key regulators of cold acclimation and freezing tolerance in the chilling tolerant <italic>Arabidopsis thaliana</italic>. Here, we investigated the function of three members of the 10 rice <italic>DREB1</italic> genes, <italic>OsDREB1C</italic>, <italic>E</italic>, and <italic>G</italic>, in the chilling sensitive rice plants. Their loss of function (LOF) mutants were each more chilling susceptible compared to the wild type, and the LOF mutants of all three genes, <italic>dreb1ceg</italic>, were more chilling susceptible than any of the single mutants. Strikingly, these mutants were capable of cold acclimation, indicating that these rice <italic>DREB1</italic> genes are important for basal chilling tolerance but not cold acclimation. Transcriptome and physiology analyses suggest that the <italic>OsDREB1C</italic>/<italic>E</italic>/<italic>G</italic> genes are involved in reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging and cell death regulation under chilling. Furthermore, these three rice <italic>DREB1</italic> genes are found to promote tolerance to other abiotic stresses: the <italic>OsDREB1C</italic>/<italic>E</italic>/<italic>G</italic> genes are positive regulators of heat tolerance, <italic>OsDREB1C</italic> and <italic>OsDREB1G</italic> are positive regulators of salt tolerance, and <italic>OsDREB1G</italic> is a positive regulator of drought tolerance. These findings expand our knowledge of the roles of DREB1 proteins in plants, enhance our mechanistic understanding of abiotic stress tolerance and will facilitate the generation of stress-tolerant crop plants.</p>