Patterns of stress response and tolerance based on transcriptome profiling of rice crown tissue under zinc deficiency

Zinc (Zn) deficiency is the most prevalent micronutrient disorder in rice and leads to delayed development and decreased yield. Several studies have investigated how rice plants respond to Zn deficiency and examined the differences between Zn-efficient (ZE) and Zn-inefficient (ZI) genotypes. ZE genotypes reallocate more Zn to roots and are better at maintaining crown root development than ZI genotypes in response to Zn deficiency. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms controlling these differences. Moreover, the role of the crown, the part of the stem from which crown roots emerge, has yet to be examined. In this study we highlight the molecular mechanisms triggered by early Zn deficiency in crown tissue through RNA sequencing of two contrasting groups of several ZE and ZI genotypes. This method allowed us to (i) identify several novel and well-known Zn transporters involved in Zn retranslocation from the crown to the shoot and roots in response to Zn deficiency; (ii) determine that Zn deficiency triggers the conversion of soluble sugars into starch; and (iii) detect several candidate genes possibly conferring Zn efficiency, including a monosaccharide transporter, a Zn finger domain-containing protein, a gibberellin-stimulated family protein and a plasma membrane polypeptide family protein.