Physiology of Rice Yield and Quality

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Physiology and Crop Production".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 6675

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
College of Agronomy, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
Interests: crop physiology; grain yield; grain quality; physiological and molecular mechanisms of crop yield and quality;

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Current estimates show that nearly 768 million people (or 9.9% of the world population) are under threat of malnutrition, If recent trends continue the number of people affected by hunger could surpass 660 million by 2030 (FAO et al. 2021). Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the most important staple foods worldwide. However, rice yield improvement has stagnated worldwide and is insufficient to meet the need of an ever-growing population. This situation will be aggravated by the daunting challenges of the degradation of paddy fields, shortage of irrigation water, and extreme weather events like prolonged droughts, heat waves, and floods that are predicted to become more prevalent due to climate change. It is urgent for breeders and agronomists to map out deliberate strategies to tackle these challenges and thereby support the pressing demand of food security.

Rice is also a model plant for genomic studies, the genes discovered through which provide fundamental insights into the complex and dynamic processes governing plant life. Currently, there exists a knowledge gap between the fundamental plant sciences and the applied technology of crop breeding and management, which is partially reflected in the limited progress made in the processes of breeding for high-yielding and quality cultivars, in sharp contrast to the quantum leaps made in rice functional genomics. In order to breed super rice cultivars with high productivity and strong resilience towards climate change, crop physiology, the discipline linking the knowledge between genomics and phenomics, is indispensable.

The goal of this Special Issue is to bridge the knowledge gap between the fundamental plant science of gene study and the practical technology of rice breeding and management. We welcome the submission of various types of manuscripts, including, but not limited to, research on the following sub-themes:

  1. Studies conducted at tissue and organ levels and beyond to dissect the biochemical and physiological mechanism underlying rice quality formation and its response to environmental cues like high temperature, cold stress, or drought.
  2. Studies performed at plant and population levels and beyond to explore the physiological aspects of yield formation and its response to environmental cues like high temperature, cold stress, or drought.
  3. Studies aimed at explaining the mechanisms of how an agronomical or chemical intervention affects rice yield and quality.

Prof. Dr. Zhenghui Liu
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • rice
  • grain yield
  • grain quality
  • physiology
  • agronomical practices
  • environmental conditions

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 1298 KiB  
Article
Low Light Conditions Alter Genome-Wide Profiles of Circular RNAs in Rice Grains during Grain Filling
by Hong Chen, Tao Wang, Zhiyou Gong, Hui Lu, Yong Chen, Fei Deng and Wanjun Ren
Plants 2022, 11(9), 1272; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11091272 - 9 May 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1996
Abstract
In animals and plants, circRNAs regulate gene expression and act as sponges that inhibit the activity of microRNAs. This study aimed to determine how specific circRNAs are expressed in rice grains at different stages of grain filling, under normal and low light conditions. [...] Read more.
In animals and plants, circRNAs regulate gene expression and act as sponges that inhibit the activity of microRNAs. This study aimed to determine how specific circRNAs are expressed in rice grains at different stages of grain filling, under normal and low light conditions. We extracted total RNA from rice grains under low and sufficient light conditions. Deep sequencing was performed using circRNA libraries, and bioinformatics tools were used to identify the circRNAs. In addition, we analyzed targeted messenger RNA functions using two databases to predict the processes involved in rice grain development, and we conducted real-time PCR on 15 of the circRNAs as well as Sanger sequencing. During the grain development process, 8015 candidate circRNAs were isolated, among which the number of known circRNAs was 1661. We also found that the number of circRNAs changed with the time of development. Among them, six circRNAs acted as sponges that targeted more than two microRNAs at different stages of development, and these circRNAs showed a regulatory pattern consistent with the transcriptome sequencing results. More circRNA diversity was found under low light treatment compared to normal light. These findings reveal a possible link between circRNA regulation and the expression of the functional genes associated with photosignal-mediated rice grain development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physiology of Rice Yield and Quality)
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Review

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15 pages, 2311 KiB  
Review
Amino Acids in Rice Grains and Their Regulation by Polyamines and Phytohormones
by Jianchang Yang, Yujiao Zhou and Yi Jiang
Plants 2022, 11(12), 1581; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11121581 - 15 Jun 2022
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3235
Abstract
Rice is one of the most important food crops in the world, and amino acids in rice grains are major nutrition sources for the people in countries where rice is the staple food. Phytohormones and plant growth regulators play vital roles in regulating [...] Read more.
Rice is one of the most important food crops in the world, and amino acids in rice grains are major nutrition sources for the people in countries where rice is the staple food. Phytohormones and plant growth regulators play vital roles in regulating the biosynthesis of amino acids in plants. This paper reviewed the content and compositions of amino acids and their distribution in different parts of ripe rice grains, and the biosynthesis and metabolism of amino acids and their regulation by polyamines (PAs) and phytohormones in filling grains, with a focus on the roles of higher PAs (spermidine and spermine), ethylene, and brassinosteroids (BRs) in this regulation. Recent studies have shown that higher PAs and BRs (24-epibrassinolide and 28-homobrassinolide) play positive roles in mediating the biosynthesis of amino acids in rice grains, mainly by enhancing the activities of the enzymes involved in amino acid biosynthesis and sucrose-to-starch conversion and maintaining redox homeostasis. In contrast, ethylene may impede amino acid biosynthesis by inhibiting the activities of the enzymes involved in amino acid biosynthesis and elevating reactive oxygen species. Further research is needed to unravel the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of the content and compositions of amino acids in the filling grain and their relationship with the content and compositions of amino acids in different parts of a ripe grain, to elucidate the cross-talk between or among phytohormones in mediating the anabolism of amino acids, and to establish the regulation techniques for promoting the biosynthesis of amino acids in rice grains. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physiology of Rice Yield and Quality)
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