LEA Gene Expression Assessment in Advanced Mutant Rice Genotypes under Drought Stress

Zarifth Shafika Kamarudin; Mohd Rafii Yusop; Mohd Razi Ismail; Mahmud Tengku Muda Mohamed; Abdul Rahim Harun; Oladosu Yusuff; Usman Magaji; Arolu Fatai

doi:10.1155/2019/8406036

LEA Gene Expression Assessment in Advanced Mutant Rice Genotypes under Drought Stress

Int J Genomics. 2019 Dec 27:2019:8406036. doi: 10.1155/2019/8406036. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Zarifth Shafika Kamarudin¹, Mohd Rafii Yusop^{1

2}, Mohd Razi Ismail², Mahmud Tengku Muda Mohamed¹, Abdul Rahim Harun³, Oladosu Yusuff², Usman Magaji², Arolu Fatai²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Crop Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
² Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
³ Agrotechnology and Biosciences Division, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, 43600 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.

Abstract

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are primarily found in plants stem, roots, and other organs and play significant roles in tolerance to several abiotic stresses. Plants synthesize a discrete set of LEA proteins in response to drought stress. In this study, the expression patterns of LEA genes were investigated in two advanced mutant rice genotypes subjected to the drought stress condition and different physiological traits including photosynthetic rate, leaf chlorophyll content, and photosystem II (PSII) photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) which were analyzed to confirm their drought tolerance. Five LEA genes (OsLEA1, OsLEA2, OsLEA3, OsLEA4, and OsLEA5) were used in the evaluation of rice genotypes and were significantly upregulated by more than 4-fold for MR219-4 and MR219-9. The upregulated genes by these two varieties showed high similarity with the drought-tolerant check variety, Aeron1. This indicates that these advanced mutant genotypes have better tolerance to drought stress. The changes in the expression level of LEA genes among the selected rice genotypes under drought stress were further confirmed. Hence, LEA genes could be served as a potential tool for drought tolerance determination in rice. MR219-4 and MR219-9 were found to be promising in breeding for drought tolerance as they offer better physiological adaptation to drought stress.