title: Characterization and Functional Analysis of Pyrabactin Resistance-Like Abscisic Acid Receptor Family in Rice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Abscisic acid (ABA) plays crucial roles in regulating plant growth and development, especially in responding to abiotic stress. The pyrabactin resistance-like (PYL) abscisic acid receptor family has been identified and widely characterized in Arabidopsis. However, PYL families in rice were largely unknown. In the present study, 10 out of 13 PYL orthologs in rice (OsPYL) were isolated and investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis showed that expression of OsPYL genes is tissue-specific and display differential response to ABA treatment, implying their functional diversity. The interaction between 10 OsPYL members and 5 protein phosphatase 2C in rice (OsPP2C) members was investigated in yeast two-hybrid and tobacco transient expression assays, and an overall interaction map was generated, which was suggestive of the diversity and complexity of ABA-sensing signaling in rice. To study the biological function of OsPYLs, two OsPYL genes (OsPYL3 and OsPYL9) were overexpressed in rice. Phenotypic analysis of OsPYL3 and OsPYL9 transgenic rice showed that OsPYLs positively regulated the ABA response during the seed germination. More importantly, the overexpression of OsPYL3 and OsPYL9 substantially improved drought and cold stress tolerance in rice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Taken together, we comprehensively uncovered the properties of OsPYLs, which may be good candidates for the improvement of abiotic stress tolerance in rice.
authors.affiliation: Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Key Laboratory of Soybean Molecular Design Breeding, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, 150081, China. tianisabella@163.com.|Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. tianisabella@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiaojie
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Key Laboratory of Soybean Molecular Design Breeding, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, 150081, China. wangzhenyu@neigaehrb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Zhenyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Key Laboratory of Soybean Molecular Design Breeding, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, 150081, China. 33yatou33@163.com.|Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. 33yatou33@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiufeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Key Laboratory of Soybean Molecular Design Breeding, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, 150081, China. tianxiaolv@yahoo.com.cn.|Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. tianxiaolv@yahoo.com.cn.
authors.forename: Tianxiao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Key Laboratory of Soybean Molecular Design Breeding, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, 150081, China. huazhaoliu@126.com.|Rice Research Institute, Heilongjiang Academy of Land Reclamation Sciences, Jiamusi, 154007, China. huazhaoliu@126.com.
authors.forename: Huazhao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Cultivation institute, Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Science, Harbin, 150086, China. wanglizhi0451@163.com.
authors.forename: Lizhi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Centre for Wheat, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450002, China. newhobby@163.com.
authors.forename: Hongbin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Key Laboratory of Soybean Molecular Design Breeding, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, 150081, China. buqingyun@iga.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Qingyun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Bu
keywords: Cold stress; Drought stress; PYL; Rice, ABA receptors; Seed germination