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Manipulation of glyoxalase pathway confers tolerance to multiple stresses in rice
Author(s) -
Gupta Brijesh K.,
Sahoo Khirod K.,
Ghosh Ajit,
Tripathi Amit K.,
Anwar Khalid,
Das Priyanka,
Singh Anil K.,
Pareek Ashwani,
Sopory Sudhir K.,
SinglaPareek Sneh L.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plant, cell and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 200
eISSN - 1365-3040
pISSN - 0140-7791
DOI - 10.1111/pce.12968
Subject(s) - abiotic component , biotic stress , biology , abiotic stress , defence mechanisms , botany , biochemistry , ecology , gene
Crop plants face a multitude of diverse abiotic and biotic stresses in the farmers' fields. Although there now exists a considerable knowledge of the underlying mechanisms of response to individual stresses, the crosstalk between response pathways to various abiotic and biotic stresses remains enigmatic. Here, we investigated if the cytotoxic metabolite methylglyoxal (MG), excess of which is generated as a common consequence of many abiotic and biotic stresses, may serve as a key molecule linking responses to diverse stresses. For this, we generated transgenic rice plants overexpressing the entire two‐step glyoxalase pathway for MG detoxification. Through assessment of various morphological, physiological and agronomic parameters, we found that glyoxalase‐overexpression imparts tolerance towards abiotic stresses like salinity, drought and heat and also provides resistance towards damage caused by the sheath blight fungus ( Rhizoctonia solani ) toxin phenylacetic acid. We show that the mechanism of observed tolerance of the glyoxalase‐overexpressing plants towards these diverse abiotic and biotic stresses involves improved MG detoxification and reduced oxidative damage leading to better protection of chloroplast and mitochondrial ultrastructure and maintained photosynthetic efficiency under stress conditions. Together, our findings indicate that MG may serve as a key link between abiotic and biotic stress response in plants.