Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 7, 2026
06:29
A Method to Preserve Wetland Roots and Rhizospheres for Elemental Imaging
Published on: February 15, 2021
Metallochaperone Protein OsHIPP36 Is Involved in Arsenic(III) Tolerance and Translocation in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)
Lin Wang1,2, Rui Guo1, Guijie Lei3
1State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, China.
Annals of Botany
|July 6, 2026
Summary
Rice protein OsHIPP36 negatively impacts arsenic tolerance. Its reduced expression enhances plant resilience by limiting arsenic translocation from roots to shoots, improving food safety.
Area of Science:
- Plant Biology
- Environmental Science
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Arsenic contamination in agricultural soils poses a significant threat to crop production and food safety.
- Heavy metal-associated isoprenylated plant proteins (HIPPs) are crucial metallochaperones involved in maintaining metal ion homeostasis within plants.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of the uncharacterized protein OsHIPP36 in arsenic (As(III)) tolerance and translocation in rice.
- To elucidate the function of OsHIPP36 as a metallochaperone in response to arsenic stress.
Main Methods:
- Gene expression analysis using RT-qPCR and GUS staining.
- Subcellular localization studies via OsHIPP36-GFP fusion proteins in rice protoplasts and tobacco leaves.
- Functional assessment in an arsenic-sensitive yeast mutant (Δycf1) and generation of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated mutant and overexpressing rice lines.
- Quantification of As(III) levels using ICP-MS and analysis of protein interactions with LCI, BiFC, and Co-IP assays.
Main Results:
- OsHIPP36 localizes to the plasma membrane and its expression is upregulated under As(III) stress.
- Heterologous expression of OsHIPP36 in yeast inhibited growth and increased intracellular As(III) accumulation.
- Loss of OsHIPP36 function in rice enhanced As(III) tolerance, reducing arsenic translocation to shoots and increasing root retention.
Conclusions:
- OsHIPP36 functions as a plasma membrane-localized metallochaperone that is induced by As(III) stress.
- OsHIPP36 plays a detrimental role in rice As(III) tolerance, with its absence conferring enhanced tolerance.
- This study presents the first evidence linking HIPP proteins to the regulation of As(III) tolerance and accumulation in rice.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
02:02Responses to Salt Stress
Salt stress—which can be triggered by high salt concentrations in a plant’s environment—can significantly affect plant growth and crop production by influencing photosynthesis and the absorption of water and nutrients.
01:18Protein Transport to the Inner Chloroplast Membrane
Proteins targeted to the inner chloroplast membrane, or plastid proteins, are transported by two general pathways: the stop-transfer and the re-insertion or post-import pathways. Most plastid proteins carry N-terminal transit sequences and internal import sequences targeting it to the specific chloroplast subcompartment. Proteins targeted by the stop-transfer pathway have internal hydrophobic sequences that inhibit their translocation into the stroma. As a result, these precursors are arrested...
01:56Riboswitches
Riboswitches are non-coding mRNA domains that regulate the transcription and translation of downstream genes without the help of proteins. Riboswitches bind directly to a metabolite and can form unique stem-loop or hairpin structures in response to the amount of the metabolite present. They have two distinct regions – a metabolite-binding aptamer and an expression platform.
The aptamer has high specificity for a particular metabolite which allows riboswitches to specifically regulate...
The aptamer has high specificity for a particular metabolite which allows riboswitches to specifically regulate...
01:30Other Stress Responses in Bacteria
Bacteria have global regulatory systems that control several types of stress mechanisms. These include Pho regulon and the heat shock response, which are essential systems for environmental adaptation, such as nutrient limitation and proteotoxic stress. The Pho regulon and the heat shock response exemplify bacterial resilience, enabling rapid adaptation to fluctuating environmental conditions.Pho RegulonBacteria require phosphorus for essential cellular processes, including nucleic acid...
01:20Sulfur Assimilation
Sulfur is an essential element in biological systems, contributing to synthesizing key biomolecules, including amino acids such as cysteine and methionine, and cofactors such as coenzyme A and biotin. Microorganisms primarily assimilate sulfur as sulfate (SO₄²⁻) from the environment, which must undergo a series of biochemical transformations before it can be incorporated into cellular components. As sulfate is highly oxidized, it must undergo assimilatory sulfate reduction to become...
01:31Regulation of the Unfolded Protein Response
Inositol-requiring kinase one or IRE1 is the most conserved eukaryotic unfolded protein response (UPR) receptor. It is a type I transmembrane protein kinase receptor with a distinctive site-specific RNase activity. As the binding mechanics of the misfolded proteins with the N-terminal domain of IRE-1 are unclear, three binding models — direct, indirect, and allosteric -- are proposed for receptor activation. Nevertheless, it is known that once a misfolded protein associates with IRE1, it...