Salt-Responsive Genes in Salt Tolerant Rice Mutants Revealed through Microarray Analysis

Transcriptional regulation in response to salt in mutant lines was investigated using oligonucleotide microarrays. In order to characterize the salt-responsive genes in rice, the expression profiles of transcripts that responded to salt-treatment were monitored using the microarrays. In the microarray analysis, among 37,299 reliable genes, 5,101, 2,758 and 2,277 genes were up-regulated by more than 2-fold using the salt treatment, while the numbers of down-regulated genes were 4,619, 3,234, and 1,878 in the WT, ST-495, and ST-532, respectively. From genotype changes induced by gamma ray mutagenesis, 3,345 and 2,397 genes were up-regulated, while 2,745 and 2,075 genes were down-regulated more than 2-fold in the two untreated mutants lines compared with untreated WT, respectively. A total of 3,108 and 2,731 genes were up-regulated more than 2-fold, while 3,987 and 3,660 genes were down-regulated by more than 2-fold in the salt treatment of the two mutants lines compared with the salt treated WT, respectively. The expressions of membrane transporter genes such as OsAKT1, OsKUP, and OsNAC increased more severely in ST-495 and ST-532 than in the WT. The expressions of the proline accumulation related genes such as OsP5CS and OsP5CR were also markedly increased in the salt tolerant mutants when compared to the WT plant.