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Updated: Oct 12, 2025

Investigating Interactions Between Histone Modifying Enzymes and Transcription Factors in vivo by Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer
Published on: October 14, 2022
The bHLH transcription factor regulated gene OsWIH2 is a positive regulator of drought tolerance in rice
Xiangyang Gu1, Shuxin Gao1, Jing Li1
1Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Hebei Collaboration Innovation Center for Cell Signaling, Hebei Key Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, 050024, China.
Abstract:
Drought is a major abiotic stress limiting crop growth and yield. In this study, we characterized a novel drought tolerance induced WIH gene in rice, OsWIH2. Overexpression of OsWIH2 in rice resulted in significantly higher drought tolerance, probably due to the decreased water loss rate and reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation under drought stress. We identified a long-chain fatty acid HOTHEAD (HTH) that interacted with OsWIH2 using yeast two-hybrid screening. OsWIH2 is an enzyme which is involved in fatty acid synthesis. We further demonstrated that the drought-inducible bHLH transcription factor OsbHLH130 could activate the expression of OsWIH2. Overall, our results suggest that drought stress may induce OsbHLH130 accumulation, which in turn activates OsWIH2 expression, and the latter improves rice drought tolerance by participating in cuticular wax biosynthesis and reducing the water loss rate as well as ROS accumulation. This research provides new genes for crop improvement.
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