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Two rice plasma membrane intrinsic proteins, OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7, are involved in transport and providing tolerance to boron toxicity

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Abstract

Boron (B) toxicity is responsible for low cereal crop production in a number of regions worldwide. In this report, we characterized two rice genes, OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7, for their involvement in B permeability and tolerance. Transcript analysis demonstrated that the expression of OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7 were downregulated in shoots and strongly upregulated in rice roots by high B treatment. Expression of both OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7 in yeast HD9 strain lacking Fps1, ACR3, and Ycf1 resulted in an increased B sensitivity. Furthermore, yeast HD9 strain expressing OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7 accumulated significantly higher B as compared to empty vector control, which suggests their involvement in B transport. Overexpression of OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7 in Arabidopsis imparted higher tolerance under B toxicity. Arabidopsis lines overexpressing OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7 showed significantly higher biomass production and greater root length, however there was no difference in B accumulation in long term uptake assay. Short-term uptake assay using tracer B (10B) in shoots and roots demonstrated increased 10B accumulation in Arabidopsis lines expressing OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7, compare to wild type control plants. Efflux assay of B in the roots showed that 10B was effluxed from the Arabidopsis transgenic plants overexpressing OsPIP2;4 or OsPIP2;7 during the initial 1-h of assay. These data indicate that OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7 are involved in mediating B transport in rice and provide tolerance via efflux of excess B from roots and shoot tissues. These genes will be highly useful in developing B tolerant crops for enhanced yield in the areas affected by high B toxicity.

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Acknowledgments

Authors are highly thankful to Dr. Barry Rosen for providing the HD9 yeast mutant strain. This research was partly supported by a grant (GAID #4808) from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Egypt through the Egyptian Cultural and Educational Bureau, Washington DC to OPD and KAM (GM:714) and a Hatch grant (MAS00401) from the USDA to OPD via the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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  1. Kundan Kumar

    Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, K. K. Birla Goa Campus, Goa, 403726, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stockbridge School of Agriculture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA

    Kundan Kumar, Kareem A. Mosa, Sudesh Chhikara & Om Parkash Dhankher

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, 11517, Egypt

    Kareem A. Mosa

  3. Department of Analytical Chemistry, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, 123 Huntington St., Box 1106, New Haven, CT, 06504, USA

    Craig Musante & Jason C. White

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  1. Kundan Kumar
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Correspondence to Om Parkash Dhankher.

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K. Kumar, and K. A. Mosa contributed equally.

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Kumar, K., Mosa, K.A., Chhikara, S. et al. Two rice plasma membrane intrinsic proteins, OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7, are involved in transport and providing tolerance to boron toxicity. Planta 239, 187–198 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-013-1969-y

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