To elucidate the effect of high temperature on grain-filling metabolism, developing rice (Oryza sativa) 'Nipponbare' caryopses were exposed to high temperature (33°C/28°C) or control temperature (25°C/20°C) during the milky stage. Comprehensive gene screening by a 22-K DNA microarray and differential hybridization, followed by expression analysis by semiquantitative reverse transcription-PCR, revealed that several starch synthesis-related genes, such as granule-bound starch synthase I (GBSSI) and branching enzymes, especially BEIIb, and a cytosolic pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase gene were downregulated by high temperature, whereas those for starch-consuming a-amylases and heat shock proteins were up-regulated. Biochemical analyses of starch showed that the high temperature-ripened grains contained decreased levels of amylose and long chain-enriched amylopectin, which might be attributed to the repressed expression of GBSSI and BEIIb, respectively. SDS-PAGE and immunoblot analysis of storage proteins revealed decreased accumulation of 13-kD prolamin, which is consistent with the diminished expression of prolamin genes under elevated temperature. Ripening under high temperature resulted in the occurrence of grains with various degrees of chalky appearance and decreased weight. Among them, severely chalky grains contained amylopectin enriched particularly with long chains compared to slightly chalky grains, suggesting that such alterations of amylopectin structure might be involved in grain chalkiness. However, among high temperature-tolerant and sensitive cultivars, alterations of neither amylopectin chain-length distribution nor amylose content were correlated to the degree of grain chalkiness, but rather seemed to be correlated to grain weight decrease, implying different underlying mechanisms for the varietal difference in grain chalkiness. The possible metabolic pathways affected by high temperature and their relevance to grain chalkiness are discussed.

SummaryHigh temperature impairs rice (Oryza sativa) grain filling by inhibiting the deposition of storage materials such as starch, resulting in mature grains with a chalky appearance, currently a major problem for rice farming in Asian countries. Such deterioration of grain quality is accompanied by the altered expression of starch metabolism-related genes. Here we report the involvement of a starch-hydrolyzing enzyme, a-amylase, in high temperature-triggered grain chalkiness. In developing seeds, high temperature induced the expression of a-amylase genes, namely Amy1A, Amy1C, Amy3A, Amy3D and Amy3E, as well as a-amylase activity, while it decreased an a-amylase-repressing plant hormone, ABA, suggesting starch to be degraded by a-amylase in developing grains under elevated temperature. Furthermore, RNAi-mediated suppression of a-amylase genes in ripening seeds resulted in fewer chalky grains under high-temperature conditions. As the extent of the decrease in chalky grains was highly correlated to decreases in the expression of Amy1A, Amy1C, Amy3A and Amy3B, these genes would be involved in the chalkiness through degradation of starch accumulating in the developing grains. The results show that activation of a-amylase by high temperature is a crucial trigger for grain chalkiness and that its suppression is a potential strategy for ameliorating grain damage from global warming.

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Biphasic generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by N-acetylchitooligosaccharide elicitor in rice cells was associated with the activation of phopholipase C (PLC) and phospholipase D (PLD). The activation of both enzymes was observed for the first phase of ROS generation, but only the activation of PLD was evident for the second response. Activation of PLD was associated with its recruitment to the membrane. Enzymatic products of these phospholipases, diacylglycerol (DG) and phosphatidic acid (PA), could induce ROS generation by themselves. Moreover, the addition of these lipids compensated the inhibition of the second phase of ROS generation by cycloheximide, indicating the involvement of the synthesis of PLD or related proteins in the second phase of ROS generation. DG and PA also induced the expression of elicitor-responsive genes in the absence of the elicitor. They could not induce phytoalexin biosynthesis by themselves but greatly enhanced the elicitor-induced phytoalexin accumulation. Further, the inhibition of PLD by 1-butanol inhibited the elicitor-induced phytoalexin accumulation, indicating the involvement of PLD and its reaction product, PA, in the induction of phytoalexin biosynthesis. These results indicated the importance of phospholipid signaling, especially by PLD and its product PA, in plant defense responses.

Phospholipase D (PLD) plays an important role in plants, including responses to abiotic as well as biotic stresses. A survey of the rice (Oryza sativa) genome database indicated the presence of 17 PLD genes in the genome, among which OsPLDa1, OsPLDa5, and OsPLDb1 were highly expressed in most tissues studied. To examine the physiological function of PLD in rice, we made knockdown plants for each PLD isoform by introducing gene-specific RNA interference constructs. One of them, OsPLDb1-knockdown plants, showed the accumulation of reactive oxygen species in the absence of pathogen infection. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and DNA microarray analyses revealed that the knockdown of OsPLDb1 resulted in the up-/down-regulation of more than 1,400 genes, including the induction of defense-related genes such as pathogenesis-related protein genes and WRKY/ERF family transcription factor genes. Hypersensitive response-like cell death and phytoalexin production were also observed at a later phase of growth in the OsPLDb1-knockdown plants. These results indicated that the OsPLDb1-knockdown plants spontaneously activated the defense responses in the absence of pathogen infection. Furthermore, the OsPLDb1-knockdown plants exhibited increased resistance to the infection of major pathogens of rice, Pyricularia grisea and Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae. These results suggested that OsPLDb1 functions as a negative regulator of defense responses and disease resistance in rice.