Elucidation of the molecular mechanism underlying cold acclimation of rice

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26850012
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Crop production science
• Research Institution: National Agriculture and Food Research Organization
• Principal Investigator: SAGEHASHI YOSHIYUKI 国立研究開発法人農業・食品産業技術総合研究機構, 北海道農業研究センター作物開発研究領域, 主任研究員 (20414617)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: イネ / 低温順化 / 低温ストレス耐性 / 熱ショック蛋白質 / Sucrose

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We used a cold acclimation treatment to confirm that many types of rice seedlings are tolerant to cold temperatures. Results of the metabolome analysis showed that the rice seedlings accumulated high amounts of saccharides and amino acids after the cold acclimation treatment. Microarray analysis showed that the expression of many heat-shock protein genes increased after the cold treatment. We identified that a heat-shock transcription factor gene, HsfA2c, was induced after the cold acclimation treatment. We developed transgenic rice plants by using HsfA2c and Hsp90-D80N, which showed extremely high gene expressions of heat-shock proteins under the cold conditions. The rice plants exhibited improved cold tolerance during seedling and booting stages. Our results show that multiple mechanisms, such as compatible solutes and the heat-shock mechanism, are involved in the cold acclimation of rice.

Free Research Field

農学