The Expression of OsPLA2-IIIand OsPPOGenes in Rice (Oryza sativaL.) Under Fe Toxicity Stress

Abstract

Lipids are an important biomolecule in plants because of their structural and func-tional roles in plant cells. Moreover, they could act as signal molecules in the defense system of plants suffering from biotic and abiotic stresses. Furthermore, plants de-velop various tolerance strategies to cope with iron (Fe) toxicity, for example, by in-volving genes in the detoxification process and other mechanisms. Therefore, the ob-jective of this research was to investigate the expression of OsPLA2-IIIand OsPPOgenes during Fe stress conditions. It was carried out using two-week-old seedlings of two rice varieties, namely, IR64 (Fe-sensitive variety) and Pokkali (Fe-tolerant vari-ety). The seedlings were treated with 400 ppm FeSO4.7H2O in the nutrient culture solutionand compared with control that received 1 ppm FeSO4.7H2O. Furthermore, leaf bronzing, chlorophyll content and relative expression of OsPLA2-IIIand OsPPOgenes were observed. An in-silico study was also performed to predict the interaction between OsPLA2-III and OsPPO proteins. The results showed that the Fe toxicity induced leaf bronzing,decreased leaf chlorophyll content, and increased the expres-sion levels of OsPLA2-IIIand OsPPOgenes. Therefore, both genes were suggested to have a role in plant tolerance mechanism during Fe toxicity stress through the lipid signaling pathway.

Keywords

• fe toxicity
• in-silico analysis
• lipid
• signal molecules