Small cysteine-rich peptides (CRPs) are important in plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. OsDT11, encoding an 88 amino acid CRP-type protein, has been reported to enhance tolerance to drought in rice (Oryza sativa L.) without negatively affecting other agronomic traits. However, the molecular mechanisms of OsDT11-mediated drought tolerance are still unclear. Here, we performed RNA-Seq analysis to compare the transcriptome profiles between wild-type (WT) and OsDT11-overexpressing (OE) rice lines under drought stress or under control (non-drought) conditions. A total of 1570 and 1421 differentially expressed genes were identified in the OE lines and the WT under drought treatment, respectively, compared to non-drought conditions. Gene ontology analysis indicated that the 430 up-regulated genes in common to both OE and the WT lines were induced for functions related to responses to water deprivation and to abscisic acid (ABA). More than half of these genes had higher expression in the OE than in the WT under drought stress. In the OE, but not in the WT, 294 genes were specifically up-regulated under drought stress and were functionally enriched in starch and sucrose biosynthetic processes and in response to stress. This implies that OsDT11 not only triggers strongly response to drought stress, but also alters several metabolic processes to enhance drought tolerance. Gene expression profiling suggests that OsDT11 confers drought tolerance by mediating an enhanced response to drought stress in an ABA-dependent signaling pathways.

中文翻译：

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OsDT11介导的ABA依赖性信号途径对水稻耐旱性的转录谱分析

富含半胱氨酸的小肽（CRP）在植物对生物和非生物胁迫的反应中很重要。据报道，编码88个氨基酸的CRP型蛋白的OsDT11可以增强水稻（Oryza sativa L.）的耐旱性，而不会负面影响其他农艺性状。但是，OsDT11介导的耐旱性的分子机制仍不清楚。在这里，我们进行了RNA-Seq分析，以比较野生型（WT）和OsDT11之间的转录组概况干旱胁迫或控制（非干旱）条件下的超表达（OE）水稻品系。与非干旱条件相比，在干旱处理的OE系和野生型中分别鉴定出总共1570和1421个差异表达基因。基因本体分析表明，诱导了OE和WT系共有的430个上调基因的功能与对缺水和脱落酸（ABA）的反应有关。在干旱胁迫下，这些基因中超过一半的基因在OE中的表达高于野生型。在OE中，但在WT中没有，在干旱胁迫下有294个基因被上调，并且在功能上富含淀粉和蔗糖的生物合成过程以及对胁迫的响应。这意味着OsDT11不仅触发了对干旱胁迫的强烈反应，而且还改变了一些代谢过程以增强耐旱性。基因表达谱分析表明，OsDT11通过介导ABA依赖性信号传导途径对干旱胁迫的增强响应而赋予了干旱耐受性。