Flood-tolerant rice plants ‘can also recover from drought’

Scientists at the University of California, Riverside have made a discovery that can greatly benefit rice growers and consumers everywhere.

The researchers have demonstrated in the lab and greenhouse that rice that is flood tolerant is also better able to recover from a drought.

"Flood tolerance does not reduce drought tolerance in these rice plants, and appears to even benefit them when they encounter drought," said Julia Bailey-Serres, a professor of genetics in the department of botany and plant sciences, who led the research project.

Bailey-Serres and her team, Takeshi Fukao, a senior researcher, and Elaine Yeung, an undergraduate student, focused on Sub1A, a gene responsible for flood or "submergence" tolerance in rice and found only in some low-yielding rice varieties in India and Sri Lanka. Sub1A works by making the plant dormant during submergence, allowing it to conserve energy until the floodwaters recede. Rice with the Sub1A gene can survive more than two weeks of complete submergence.

Plant breeders have already benefited farmers worldwide, especially in South Asia, by having transferred Sub1A into high-yielding rice varieties without compromising these varieties' desirable traits — such as high yield, good grain quality, and pest and disease resistance.

Bailey-Serres's lab found that in addition to providing robust submergence tolerance, Sub1A aids survival of drought. The researchers report that at the molecular level Sub1A serves as a convergence point between submergence and drought response pathways, allowing rice plants to survive and re-grow after both extremes of precipitation.

The study results appear in the January issue of The Plant Cell.