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A Telemetric, Gravimetric Platform for Real-Time Physiological Phenotyping of Plant–Environment Interactions
Published on: August 5, 2020
Integrated multi-omics analysis reveals carbon metabolic reprogramming as a mechanism of drought resistance in hybrid
Wei Ding1, Junguo Bi2, Shoujun Chen2
1State Key Laboratory of Genetics and Development of Complex Phenotypes, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai Pudong Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China.
Abstract:
Drought severely limits global rice production, and the exploitation of heterosis offers a promising route for improving drought resistance. However, the molecular mechanisms that underlie drought resistance in hybrid rice remain largely unknown. Here, we performed integrated multi-omics analyses of flag leaves from the elite hybrid rice Hanyou73 (HY73) and its parental lines, Hanhui3 (HH3) and Huhan7B (HH7B), during grain filling under drought. We discovered that non-additive effect (NAE)-driven carbon metabolic reprogramming is fundamental to HY73's superior drought resistance. Proteomic profiling revealed that HY73 prioritizes carbon metabolism, selectively retaining monosaccharides (MOSs) such as glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) and glucose-1-phosphate (G1P) to bolster stress-buffering processes. Subsequent metabolomic analysis revealed that this carbon retention fuels a hybrid-specific MOS-acetyl-coenzyme A (AcCoA)-fatty acyl/prenol lipid (MOS-AcCoA-FA/PR) shunt that diverts carbon into vital lipid-based hormonal, structural, and energetic processes. Importantly, NAE-driven accumulation of AcCoA is correlated with increased lysine acetylation (Kac) in HY73, indicating a connection between metabolism and post-translational regulation. Acetylomic analyses pinpointed acetylation at lysine 155 (K155ac) on the phosphoglucomutase OsPGM3 as a key regulatory switch in carbon metabolism. OsPGM3 governs the balance between G6P and G1P under drought, coordinating local carbon use for the sugar-lipid shunt with the sugar export vital for yield potential. K155ac precisely fine-tunes OsPGM3 activity, acting as a post-translational checkpoint that is responsive to drought-induced carbon shifts. Together, our findings reveal a hybrid-specific NAE-carbon flux-Kac regulatory axis that precisely balances drought adaptation with yield maintenance, offering new targets for the breeding of climate-resilient hybrid rice.
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