浙江大学刘建祥研究小组发现，NAT1–bHLH110–CER1/CER1L模块调控水稻的热应激耐受性。这一研究成果于2025年1月14日在线发表在国际学术期刊《自然—遗传学》上。

研究人员发现，通过修改一种热应激诱导的负调控因子——热耐性负调控因子1（NAT1），可以增加蜡质沉积并增强水稻的热耐性。研究人员展示了C2H2家族转录因子NAT1直接抑制bHLH110的表达，而bHLH110在热应激条件下直接促进蜡质生物合成基因CER1/CER1L的表达。

原位杂交分析显示，NAT1和bHLH110主要在表皮层中表达。通过基因编辑技术，研究人员成功突变了NAT1，消除了其对蜡质生物合成的抑制作用，并在常温条件下改善了热耐性且不影响产量。田间试验进一步确认，NAT1编辑水稻能够提高结实率和粮食产量。

因此，该研究揭示了水稻在热应激条件下调控蜡质生物合成的机制，并提供了一种通过修改NAT1来增强热抗性的策略。

研究人员表示，水稻生产正面临与极端温度相关的全球变暖带来的重大威胁。

附：英文原文

Title: The NAT1–bHLH110–CER1/CER1L module regulates heat stress tolerance in rice

Author: Lu, Hai-Ping, Liu, Xue-Huan, Wang, Mei-Jing, Zhu, Qiao-Yun, Lyu, Yu-Shu, Xu, Jian-Hang, Liu, Jian-Xiang

Issue&Volume: 2025-01-14

Abstract: Rice production is facing substantial threats from global warming associated with extreme temperatures. Here we report that modifying a heat stress-induced negative regulator, a negative regulator of thermotolerance 1 (NAT1), increases wax deposition and enhances thermotolerance in rice. We demonstrated that the C2H2 family transcription factor NAT1 directly inhibits bHLH110 expression, and bHLH110 directly promotes the expression of wax biosynthetic genes CER1/CER1L under heat stress conditions. In situ hybridization revealed that both NAT1 and bHLH110 are predominantly expressed in epidermal layers. By using gene-editing technology, we successfully mutated NAT1 to eliminate its inhibitory effects on wax biosynthesis and improved thermotolerance without yield penalty under normal temperature conditions. Field trials further confirmed the potential of NAT1-edited rice to increase seed-setting rate and grain yield. Therefore, our findings shed light on the regulatory mechanisms governing wax biosynthesis under heat stress conditions in rice and provide a strategy to enhance heat resilience through the modification of NAT1.

DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-02065-2

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-024-02065-2