Suppressing an auxin efflux transporter enhances rice adaptation to temperate habitats
Rice (Oryza sativa L.), a chilling-sensitive staple crop originating from tropical and subtropical Asia, can be cultivated in temperate regions through the introduction of chilling tolerance traits. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this adaptation remain largely unknown. Herein, we show that HAN2, a quantitative trait locus, confers chilling tolerance in temperate japonica rice. HAN2 encodes an auxin efflux transporter (OsABCB5) and negatively regulates chilling tolerance, potentially via auxin-mediated signaling pathway. During rice domestication, HAN2 has undergone selective divergence between the indica and temperate japonica subspecies. In temperate japonica rice, the insertion of a Copia long terminal repeat retrotransposon downstream of HAN2 reduces its expression, thereby enhancing chilling tolerance and facilitating adaptation to temperate climates. Introgression of the temperate japonica HAN2 allele into indica rice significantly improves chilling tolerance at both seedling and booting stages. These findings advance our understanding of rice northward expansion and provide a valuable genetic resource for improving yield stability under chilling stress.
Authors
- Yanchun Cui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2868-2424)
- Xiaojie Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9411-2235)
- Wenbang Tang
- Peng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4326-1898)
- Zhankun He
- Donghai Mao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9850-149X)
- Yongzhong Xing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1376-1514)
- Xiaodong Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8132-8109)
- Caiyan Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7704-4691)
- Bi Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1151-1848)
- Zhansheng Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0132-2741)
- Wenli Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0710-1966)
- Yifei Xia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7953-5849)
- Yongjun Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1041-4912)
- Lifang Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7260-3914)
- Xuan Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7432-4513)
Institutions
- Nanjing Agricultural University (CN)
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Instituto Superior Monitor (MZ)
- Institute of Subtropical Agriculture (CN)
- China National Hybrid Rice R&D Central Hunan Hybrid Rice Reserch Center (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-05-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59449-z
- Citations
- 7
- Primary Topic
- Plant Molecular Biology Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 12.25
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Southern University of Science and Technology