Mitochondrial AOX1a and an HO feed-forward signalling loop regulate flooding tolerance in rice.

Flooding is a widespread natural disaster that causes tremendous yield losses of global food production. Rice is the only cereal capable of growing in aquatic environments. Direct seeding by which seedlings grow underwater is an important cultivation method for reducing rice production cost.

A newly evolved rice-specific gene JAUP1 regulates jasmonate biosynthesis and signalling to promote root development and multi-stress tolerance.

Root architecture and function are critical for plants to secure water and nutrient supply from the soil, but environmental stresses alter root development. The phytohormone jasmonic acid (JA) regulates plant growth and responses to wounding and other stresses, but its role in root development for adaptation to environmental challenges had not been well investigated. We discovered a novel JA Upregulated Protein 1 gene (JAUP1) that has recently evolved in rice and is specific to modern rice accessions.

A single promoter-TALE system for tissue-specific and tuneable expression of multiple genes in rice.

In biological discovery and engineering research, there is a need to spatially and/or temporally regulate transgene expression. However, the limited availability of promoter sequences that are uniquely active in specific tissue-types and/or at specific times often precludes co-expression of multiple transgenes in precisely controlled developmental contexts. Here, we developed a system for use in rice that comprises synthetic designer transcription activator-like effectors (dTALEs) and cognate synthetic TALE-activated promoters (STAPs).

Rice Big Grain 1 promotes cell division to enhance organ development, stress tolerance and grain yield.

Grain/seed yield and plant stress tolerance are two major traits that determine the yield potential of many crops. In cereals, grain size is one of the key factors affecting grain yield. Here, we identify and characterize a newly discovered gene Rice Big Grain 1 (RBG1) that regulates grain and organ development, as well as abiotic stress tolerance.

Sugar starvation-regulated MYBS2 and 14-3-3 protein interactions enhance plant growth, stress tolerance, and grain weight in rice.

Autotrophic plants have evolved distinctive mechanisms for maintaining a range of homeostatic states for sugars. The on/off switch of reversible gene expression by sugar starvation/provision represents one of the major mechanisms by which sugar levels are maintained, but the details remain unclear. α-Amylase (αAmy) is the key enzyme for hydrolyzing starch into sugars for plant growth, and it is induced by sugar starvation and repressed by sugar provision.

Two MYB-related transcription factors play opposite roles in sugar signaling in Arabidopsis.

Sugar regulation of gene expression has profound effects at all stages of the plant life cycle. Although regulation at the transcriptional level is one of the most prominent mechanisms by which gene expression is regulated, only a few transcription factors have been identified and demonstrated to be involved in the regulation of sugar-regulated gene expression. OsMYBS1, an R1/2-type MYB transcription factor, has been demonstrated to be involved in sugar- and hormone-regulated α-amylase gene expression in rice.

A late embryogenesis abundant protein HVA1 regulated by an inducible promoter enhances root growth and abiotic stress tolerance in rice without yield penalty.

Regulation of root architecture is essential for maintaining plant growth under adverse environment. A synthetic abscisic acid (ABA)/stress-inducible promoter was designed to control the expression of a late embryogenesis abundant protein (HVA1) in transgenic rice. The background of HVA1 is low but highly inducible by ABA, salt, dehydration and cold.