Dongxiang Wild Rice (Oryza rufipogon) is the northernmost wild rice in the world known to date and has extremely high cold tolerance and many other adversity-resistant properties. To identify the genes responsible for the high stress tolerance, we isolated and characterized a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) protein gene OrbHLH001 from Dongxiang Wild Rice. The gene encodes an ICE1-like protein containing multiple homopeptide repeats. Expression of OrbHLH001 is induced by salt stress and is predominant in the shoots of wild rice seedlings. Overexpression of OrbHLH001 enhanced the tolerance to freezing and salt stresses in transgenic Arabidopsis. Examination of the expression of cold-responsive genes in transgenic Arabidopsis showed that the function of OrbHLH001 differs from that of ICE1 and is independent of a CBF/DREB1 cold-response pathway.

Dongxiang wild rice is phylogenetically close to temperate japonica and contains multiple cold resistance loci conferring its adaptation to high-latitude habitat. Understanding the nature of adaptation in wild populations will benefit crop breeding in the development of climate-resilient crop varieties. Dongxiang wild rice (DXWR), the northernmost common wild rice known, possesses a high degree of cold tolerance and can survive overwintering in its native habitat. However, to date, it is still unclear how DXWR evolved to cope with low-temperature environment, resulting in limited application of DXWR in rice breeding programs. In this study, we carried out both QTL mapping and phylogenetic analysis to discern the genetic mechanism underlying the strong cold resistance. Through a combination of interval mapping and single locus analysis in two genetic populations, at least 13 QTLs for seedling cold tolerance were identified in DXWR. A phylogenetic study using both genome-wide InDel markers and markers associated with cold tolerance loci reveals that DXWR belongs to the Or-III group, which is most closely related to cold-tolerant Japonica rice rather than to the Indica cultivars that are predominant in the habitat where DXWR grows. Our study paves the way toward an understanding of the nature of adaptation to a northern habitat in O. rufipogon. The QTLs identified in DXWR in this study will be useful for molecular breeding of cold-tolerant rice.

In the Chinese province of Sichuan steep mountains rise from the very densely populated and intensely cultivated Chengdu basin more than 4000 elevational meters to the Tibetan Plateau. This steep physical gradient is exceptionally well suited to investigate the transport of persistent pesticides and other organic contaminants from low to high elevations. In spring and autumn 2006, 25 soil samples were taken at five elevations ranging from 2636 to 4479 m along the East-facing slope of Balang Mountain in Wolong Nature Reserve. Analysis of soil extracts was done by gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry. Whereas hexachlorobenzene (HCB), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCH), and dichlorodibenzotrichloroethane and its degradation products (DDTs) were present at levels of a few ng/g, only two light PCB congeners were detected at levels below 1 ng/g in soil. Soil concentration for all analytes increased significantly and exponentially with altitude. The rate of concentration increase, expressed quantitatively through the slope of the linear regression between the logarithm of the concentrations and altitude, increases along the sequence HCB < PCB < HCH < or = DDT. This trend is consistent with, and therefore lends additional observational support to, a mountain cold-trapping mechanism based on the temperature dependence of precipitation scavenging.