Osabc1k8, an abc1-like kinase gene, mediates abscisic acid sensitivity and dehydration tolerance response in rice seedlings

The activity of bc1 complex kinase (ABC1K) protein family, which widely exists in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, consists of 15 members in rice, and the role of this family in plants has not yet been studied in details. In this study, a novel function of OsABC1K8 (LOC-Os06g48770), a member of rice ABC1K family, was characterized. The transcript level of OsABC1K8 changes in response to salt, dehydration, cold, PEG, oxidative (H/sub 2/O/sub 2/) stresses, or abscisic acid (ABA) treatment. Overexpression of OsABC1K8 significantly increased sensitivity to dehydration and reduced sensitivity to ABA. In the contrast, RNAi transgenic lines displayed significantly reduced sensitivity to dehydration stress and increased sensitivity to ABA. Furthermore, the transcriptional levels of several ABA/stress-regulated responsive genes were suppressed in OsABC1K8 over-expressing plants under dehydration stress. In conclusion, our results suggested that OsABC1K8 is a negative regulator in response to dehydration stress through an ABA-dependent pathway. (author)