A suite of new genes defining salinity stress tolerance in seedlings of contrasting rice genotypes

Salinity is one of the major constraints adversely influencing crop productivity. Saltol QTL is a major QTL associated with Na+-K+ ratio and seedling stage salinity tolerance in rice. With an aim to understand the contribution of individual genes localized within saltol towards salinity tolerance, we analysed the transcript abundance of a set of these genes in seedlings of contrasting genotypes of rice. We hypothesize that this approach may be helpful in identifying new 'candidate genes' for improving salinity tolerance in crops. For this purpose, seedlings of Oryza sativa cv. IR64 (sensitive) and the landrace Pokkali (tolerant) were subjected to short/long durations of salinity. qRT-PCR analysis clearly exhibited differential regulation of genes encoding signaling related protein (SRPs), where higher transcript abundance for most of them was observed in Pokkali than IR64 under non-stress conditions, thereby indicating towards well preparedness of the former to handle stress, in anticipation. Genes encoding proteins of unknown function (PUFs), though, constitute a considerable portion of plant genome, have so far been neglected in most studies. Time course analysis of these genes showed a continuous increase in their abundance in Pokkali, while in IR64, their abundance increased till 24 h followed by a clear decrease, thereby justifying their nomenclature as 'salinity induced factors' (SIFs). This is the first report showing possible involvement of SIFs localized within salinity related QTL towards salinity stress response. Based on the phenotypes of insertional mutants, it is proposed that these SIFs may have a putative function in vegetative growth (SIFVG), fertility (SIFF), viability (SIFV) or early flowering (SIFEF).