Cellulose synthase-like protein OsCSLD4 plays an important role in the response of rice to salt stress by mediating abscisic acid biosynthesis to regulate osmotic stress tolerance.

Cell wall polysaccharide biosynthesis enzymes play important roles in plant growth, development and stress responses. The functions of cell wall polysaccharide synthesis enzymes in plant growth and development have been well studied. In contrast, their roles in plant responses to environmental stress are poorly understood. Previous studies have demonstrated that the rice cell wall cellulose synthase-like D4 protein (OsCSLD4) is involved in cell wall polysaccharide synthesis and is important for rice growth and development. This study demonstrated that the OsCSLD4 function-disrupted mutant nd1 was sensitive to salt stress, but insensitive to abscisic acid (ABA). The expression of some ABA synthesis and response genes was repressed in nd1 under both normal and salt stress conditions. Exogenous ABA can restore nd1-impaired salt stress tolerance. Moreover, overexpression of OsCSLD4 can enhance rice ABA synthesis gene expression, increase ABA content and improve rice salt tolerance, thus implying that OsCSLD4-regulated rice salt stress tolerance is mediated by ABA synthesis. Additionally, nd1 decreased rice tolerance to osmotic stress, but not ion toxic tolerance. The results from the transcriptome analysis showed that more osmotic stress-responsive genes were impaired in nd1 than salt stress-responsive genes, thus indicating that OsCSLD4 is involved in rice salt stress response through an ABA-induced osmotic response pathway. Intriguingly, the disruption of OsCSLD4 function decreased grain width and weight, while overexpression of OsCSLD4 increased grain width and weight. Taken together, this study demonstrates a novel plant salt stress adaptation mechanism by which crops can coordinate salt stress tolerance and yield.