Molecular characterization and functional analysis of the OsPsbR gene family in rice

Low temperature may exert a negative impact on agronomical productivity. PsbR was known as the 10 kDa Photosystem II polypeptide. Although plant PsbR is thought to play important roles in photosynthesis, little is known about the contribution of plant PsbR to abiotic stress resistance. The expression patterns of three OsPsbR gene family members, OsPsbR1, OsPsbR2, and OsPsbR3, were characterized in rice 'Nipponbare'. Under normal condition, OsPsbR1 and OsPsbR3 showed tissue-specific expression, while the expression of OsPsbR2 could not be detected in all tested tissues. OsPsbR1 was upregulated in response to cold stress, and downregulated under drought, salt, or heat conditions. The upregulation of OsPsbR3 was observed under the treatment of ABA, and its downregulation was detected under drought or heat conditions. Upregulation of OsPsbR1 in rice resulted in significantly increased resistance to cold, but did not affect the yield of rice. Furthermore, after 8 h cold-stress treatment, the expression levels of three cold stress-induced marker genes were significantly higher in the overexpression lines L11 and L19 in comparison with the wild type. All these results suggest that OsPsbR1 may play key roles in photosynthesis and cold stress response and thus has the potential to improve cold stress tolerance of crops.