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CONSTITUTIVE EXPRESSION OF OSC3H33, OSC3H50 AND OSC3H37 GENES IN RICE UNDER SALT STRESS

MUHAMMAD JAMIL^1*, WAQAS IQBAL¹, ASIA BANGASH¹, SHAFIQ UR REHMAN², Q. MUHAMMAD IMRAN¹ AND EUI SHIK RHA^3*

Abstract: Abiotic stress is a major problem around the world causing huge losses to cultivated crops. Salinity, low temperature and drought are the most destructive abiotic stresses worldwide. A study was designed to understand the effect of salt stress (control, 50,100, 150 and 200 mM) on the germination of two local rice varieties (Super Basmati and Basmati 2000) along with the cellular injury that salt inflicts on rice seedlings and the expression of regulatory genes (OsC3H33, OsC3H50 and OsC3H37) from CCCH gene family. In both the varieties, continuous reduction in germination was observed as the salt stress increased while better germination pattern was observed in Super Basmati than Basmati-2000. There was an increase in the cellular injury as the salt concentration increased in both varieties. RT-PCR approach was used to isolate and detect the expression of Zinc finger protein genes (OsC3H33, OsC3H50 and OsC3H37) in rice. The expression pattern showed that OsC3H33, OsC3H50 and OsC3H37 were constitutively expressed in plants raised in stressed environment but the expression was different under various salt concentrations. The expression of these genes suggests that they might have some regulatory function in abiotic stress tolerance.

¹Deparment of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Kohat University of Science and Technology (KUST), Kohat 26000, Pakistan

²Department of Plant Science, Kohat University of Science and Technology (KUST), Kohat 26000, Pakistan

³Department of Well-being Resources, Sunchon National University,  Suncheon 540-742, Republic of Korea