Rice Science ›› 2023, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (6): 613-631.DOI: 10.1016/j.rsci.2023.04.007

• Research Papers • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Phosphorus Starvation Tolerance in Rice Through Combined Physiological, Biochemical, and Proteome Analyses

Prathap V1, Suresh Kumar1(), Nand Lal Meena1,2, Chirag Maheshwari1, Monika Dalal3, Aruna Tyagi1()   

  1. 1Division of Biochemistry, Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India
    2Division of Germplasm Evaluation, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi 110012, India
    3National Institute for Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi 110012, India

Abstract:

Phosphorus (P) deficiency limits the growth, development, and productivity of rice. To better understand the underlying mechanisms in P-deficiency tolerance and the role of Pup1 QTL in enhancing P use efficiency (PUE) for the development of P-efficient rice cultivars, a pair of contrasting rice genotypes (Pusa-44 and NIL-23) was applied to investigate the morpho-physio-biochemical and proteomic variation under P-starvation stress. The rice genotypes were grown hydroponically in a PusaRich medium with adequate P (16 mg/kg, +P) or without P (0 mg/kg, -P) for 30 d. P-starvation manifested a significant reductions in root and shoot biomass, shoot length, leaf area, total chlorophyll, and P, nitrogen and starch contents, as well as protein kinase activity. The stress increased root-to-shoot biomass ratio, root length, sucrose content, and acid phosphatase activity, particularly in the P-tolerant genotype (NIL-23). Comparative proteome analysis revealed several P metabolism-associated proteins (including OsCDPKs, OsMAPKs, OsCPKs, OsLecRK2, and OsSAPks) to be expressed in the shoot of NIL-23, indicating that multiple protein kinases were involved in P-starvation/deficiency tolerance. Moreover, the up-regulated expression of OsrbcL, OsABCG32, OsSUS5, OsPolI-like B, and ClpC2 proteins in the shoot, and OsACA9, OsACA8, OsSPS2F, OsPP2C15, and OsBiP3 in the root of NIL-23, indicated their role in P-starvation stress control through the Pup1 QTL. Thus, our findings indicated that -P stress-responsive proteins, in conjunction with morpho-physio-biochemical modulations, improved PUE and made NIL-23 a P-deficiency tolerant genotype due to the introgression of the Pup1 QTL in the Pusa-44 background.

Key words: phosphorus deficiency, Pup1 QTL, protein kinase, acid phosphatase, proteome analysis, rice