Author(s): Qi Zhang, Nan Jiang, Guo-Liang Wang, Yahui Hong and Zhilong Wang
Cold stress reduces the growth and production of many crops including rice (Oryza sativa L.), which is a staple food crop and model monocot plant. During the past two decades, significant progresses have been made in understanding the cold-responsive network in rice. Various genes and gene products functioning in cold sensing and transcriptional regulation and post-transcriptional processing of the response to cold have been identified and these include OsDREBs, OsNACs, OsMAPs, OsCDPKs, miR-171, and miR-444a. The important roles of calcium, Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and Abscisic Acid (ABA) in cold sensing and signaling during both vegetative and reproductive stages have also been revealed. The new findings summarized in this review will facilitate the breeding of cold tolerance in rice and will also be useful for studying and understanding cold sensing and signaling in other crops.
