Tan Mingfang, Wang Yijie, Zhao Yu
National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China.
Rice (N Y). 2025 Jun 19;18(1):55. doi: 10.1186/s12284-025-00800-9.
Plants have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to cope with drought stress. A resilient root system, coupled with appropriate levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), is crucial for optimal growth and increased yield under drought stress. Accumulating studies have shown a strong link between root development, ROS, and drought tolerance. WOX11, as a master regulator of crown root (CR) development in rice, also governs root redox metabolism. However, it remains unknown whether WOX11 modulates ROS homeostasis in roots to facilitate adaptation to drought stress. In this study, we found that WOX11 directly binds to the promoter of the peroxidase gene OsPRX130, thereby enhancing drought tolerance by regulating CR growth. Notably, OsPRX130 is predominantly expressed in rice roots and its expression is induced by drought stress. Knockout of OsPRX130 inhibited CR growth by reducing ROS levels, ultimately compromising the drought tolerance in rice. Taken together, our findings shed light on the mechanism by which WOX11 mediates ROS accumulation through modulating the class III peroxidase gene OsPRX130 during rice CR development. This provides new insights into the functions of PRX genes during CR development. More importantly, our results deepen our understanding of how WOX11 regulates root development to enhance drought tolerance in rice and provide an alternative breeding strategy using WOX11 to control root system architecture for developing crop varieties with high drought adaptability.
植物已经进化出复杂的机制来应对干旱胁迫。一个有韧性的根系，再加上适当水平的活性氧（ROS），对于在干旱胁迫下实现最佳生长和提高产量至关重要。越来越多的研究表明，根系发育、ROS和耐旱性之间存在紧密联系。WOX11作为水稻冠根（CR）发育的主要调节因子，也调控根系氧化还原代谢。然而，WOX11是否通过调节根系中的ROS稳态来促进对干旱胁迫的适应仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们发现WOX11直接结合过氧化物酶基因OsPRX130的启动子，从而通过调节冠根生长来增强耐旱性。值得注意的是，OsPRX130主要在水稻根系中表达，其表达受干旱胁迫诱导。敲除OsPRX130会通过降低ROS水平抑制冠根生长，最终损害水稻的耐旱性。综上所述，我们的研究结果揭示了WOX11在水稻冠根发育过程中通过调节III类过氧化物酶基因OsPRX130介导ROS积累的机制。这为PRX基因在冠根发育过程中的功能提供了新的见解。更重要的是，我们的结果加深了我们对WOX11如何调节根系发育以增强水稻耐旱性的理解，并提供了一种利用WOX11控制根系结构来培育具有高干旱适应性作物品种的替代育种策略。
