Rice heterotrimeric G-protein gamma subunits (RGG1 and RGG2) are differentially regulated under abiotic stress

Heterotrimeric G-proteins (a, b and c subunits) are primarily involved in diverse signaling processes by transducing signals from an activated transmembrane G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) to appropriate downstream effectors within cells. The role of a and b G-protein subunits in salinity and heat stress has been reported but the regulation of c subunit of plant G-proteins in response to abiotic stress has not heretofore been described. In the present study we report the isolation of full-length cDNAs of two isoforms of Gc [RGG1(I), 282 bp and RGG2(I), 453 bp] from rice (Oryza sativa cv Indica group Swarna) and described their transcript regulation in response to abiotic stresses. Protein sequence alignment and pairwise comparison of c subunits of Indica rice [RGG(I)] with other known plant G-protein c subunits demonstrated high homology to barley (HvGs) while soybean (GmG2) and Arabidopsis (AGG1) were least related. The numbers of the exons and introns were found to be similar between RGG1(I) and RGG2(I), but their sizes were different. Analyses of promoter sequences of RGG(I) confirmed the presence of stress-related cis-regulatory signature motifs suggesting their active and possible independent roles in abiotic stress signaling. The transcript levels of RGG1(I) and RGG2(I) were upregulated following NaCl, cold, heat and ABA treatments. However, in drought stress only RGG1(I) was upregulated. Strong support by transcript profiling suggests that c subunits play a critical role via cross talk in signaling pathways. These findings provide first direct evidence for roles of Gc subunits of rice G-proteins in regulation of abiotic stresses. These findings suggest the possible exploitation of c subunits of G-protein machinery for promoting stress tolerance in plants.