Different physiobiochemical and transcriptomic reactions of rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars differing in terms of salt sensitivity under salinity stress

Salinity stress is the most important and common environmental stresses throughout the world, including Iran. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of several important genes involved in the salinity tolerance of the rice cultivars differing in salt sensitivity. In this research, the expression of four mitochondrial genes, H2O2, malondialdehyde (MDA), proline, sodium, potassium and superoxide dismutase (SOD), was measured in Iranian rice cultivars and two well-known international varieties as checks in response to 100 mM salt stress. The results show that the activity of SOD in the tolerant cultivars is much higher than in the susceptible ones under saline conditions (100 mM NaCl). The study of the gene expression in the tolerant and sensitive cultivars also showed that the expression of the genes increased in the early hours of the stress, with the exception of the OsGR1. Moreover, the amount of the expression in the tolerant cultivars was far more than the susceptible ones. The result of this study showed that the function of a set of antioxidant enzymes can lead to detoxification of the reactive oxygen species, so in order to better understand ROS scavengers, a comprehensive study on the antioxidant system should be conducted.