Histone Acetyltransferase GCN5 Regulates Rice Growth and Development and Enhances Salt Tolerance

Abstract

Histone acetylation is indispensable in the process of crops resisting abiotic stress, which is jointly catalyzed by histone acetyltransferases and deacetylases. However, the mechanism of regulating salt tolerance through histone acetyltransferase GCN5 is still unclear. We revealed that GCN5 can catalyze the acetylation of canonical H3 and H4 lysine residues both in vivo and in vitro in rice. The knockout mutants and RNA interference lines of OsGCN5 exhibited severe growth inhibition and defects in salt tolerance, while the over-expression of OsGCN5 enhanced the salt tolerance of rice seedlings, indicating that OsGCN5 positively regulated the response of rice to salt stress. RNA-seq analysis suggested OsGCN5 may positively regulate the salt tolerance of rice by inhibiting the expression of OsHKT2;1 or other salt-responsive genes. Taken together, our study indicated that GCN5 plays a key role in enhancing salt tolerance in rice.