The ethylene response factors SNORKEL1 and SNORKEL2 allow rice to adapt to deep water.
Living organisms must acquire new biological functions to adapt to changing and hostile environments. Deepwater rice has evolved and adapted to flooding by acquiring the ability to significantly elongate its internodes, which have hollow structures and function as snorkels to allow gas exchange with the atmosphere, and thus prevent drowning. Many physiological studies have shown that the phytohormones ethylene, gibberellin and abscisic acid are involved in this response, but the gene(s) responsible for this trait has not been identified. Here we show the molecular mechanism of deepwater response through the identification of the genes SNORKEL1 and SNORKEL2, which trigger deepwater response by encoding ethylene response factors involved in ethylene signalling. Under deepwater conditions, ethylene accumulates in the plant and induces expression of these two genes. The products of SNORKEL1 and SNORKEL2 then trigger remarkable internode elongation via gibberellin. We also demonstrate that the introduction of three quantitative trait loci from deepwater rice into non-deepwater rice enabled the latter to become deepwater rice. This discovery will contribute to rice breeding in lowland areas that are frequently flooded during the rainy season.
Hattori
Yoko
Y
Bioscience and Biotechnology Center, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.
Nagai
Keisuke
K
Furukawa
Shizuka
S
Song
Xian-Jun
XJ
Kawano
Ritsuko
R
Sakakibara
Hitoshi
H
Wu
Jianzhong
J
Matsumoto
Takashi
T
Yoshimura
Atsushi
A
Kitano
Hidemi
H
Matsuoka
Makoto
M
Mori
Hitoshi
H
Ashikari
Motoyuki
M
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D001947:Breeding; D005030:Ethylenes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D055868:Floods; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D005875:Gibberellins / Q000378:metabolism; D019697:Onions / Q000166:cytology; D012275:Oryza / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism
D005030:Ethylenes; D005875:Gibberellins; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D010940:Plant Proteins; D014867:Water; C036216:ethylene
J Bacteriol. 1986 Dec;168(3):1291-301
3782037
Plant Physiol. 1984 Dec;76(4):947-50
16663977
Plant Mol Biol. 2006 May;61(1-2):141-52
16786297
Theor Appl Genet. 2004 Jun;109(1):42-7
14985975
Plant Physiol. 2006 Feb;140(2):411-32
16407444
Plant Cell Physiol. 2008 Oct;49(10):1429-50
18718932
Plant J. 1994 Aug;6(2):271-82
7920717
Plant Physiol. 1983 Jun;72(2):441-6
16663022
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Oct 28;105(43):16814-9
18936491
Nat Genet. 2008 Aug;40(8):1023-8
18604208
Genes Genet Syst. 2002 Oct;77(5):323-34
12441643
Nature. 2006 Aug 10;442(7103):705-8
16900200
Plant Physiol. 1998 Dec;118(4):1105-10
9847084
Annu Rev Plant Biol. 2008;59:313-39
18444902
Nat Genet. 2007 May;39(5):623-30
17417637
Nat Genet. 2009 Apr;41(4):494-7
19305410
Trends Plant Sci. 2006 Jul;11(7):344-50
16769240
Plant Cell. 2006 Aug;18(8):2021-34
16816135
Plant Physiol. 1992 Jul;99(3):1156-61
16668983
Genes Dev. 1998 Dec 1;12(23):3703-14
9851977
Science. 2005 Jul 29;309(5735):741-5
15976269
Plant Mol Biol. 1994 Dec;26(5):1529-55
7858203
Plant J. 2003 Jul;35(1):104-15
12834406
Theor Appl Genet. 2006 Apr;112(6):1164-71
16453132