Fine-tuning gibberellin improves rice alkali–thermal tolerance and yield

Abstract

Soil alkalinization and global warming are predicted to pose major challenges to agriculture in the future, as they continue to accelerate, markedly reducing global arable land and crop yields1,2. Therefore, strategies for future agriculture are needed to further improve globally cultivated, relatively high-yielding Green Revolution varieties (GRVs) derived from the SEMIDWARF 1 (SD1) gene3,4. Here we propose that precise regulation of the phytohormone gibberellin (GA) to optimal levels is the key to not only confer alkali–thermal tolerance to GRVs, but also to further enhance their yield. Endogenous modulation of ALKALI-THERMAL TOLERANCE 1/2 (ATT1/2), quantitative trait loci encoding GA20-oxidases or exogenous application of GA minimized rice yield loss affected by sodic soils. Mechanistically, high GA concentrations induce reactive oxygen species over-accumulation, whereas low GA concentrations repress the expression of stress-tolerance genes by means of DELLA–NGR5-mediated H3K27me3 methylation. We further showed that ATT1 induces large fluctuations in GA levels, whereas ATT2 is the ideal candidate for fine-tuning GA concentrations to appropriate levels to balance reactive oxygen species and H3K27me3 methylation to improve alkali–thermal tolerance and yield. Thus, ATT2 is expected to be a potential new post-Green Revolution gene that could be harnessed to develop and use marginal lands for sustainable agriculture in the future. Precise regulation of the phytohormone gibberellin to optimal levels may not only confer alkali–thermal tolerance to Green Revolution rice varieties but may also further enhance their yield, and ATT2, by enabling the fine-tuning of gibberellins, is expected to be a potential new post-Green Revolution gene.