Research Progress on the Function of Transcription Factors in Response to Drought Stress in Rice

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the major food crops worldwide. With global warming and the continuous growth of the population, the increase of agricultural water use and the reduction of available freshwater resources, drought stress has become the most serious abiotic stress affecting the growth, development and yield of rice. Breeding drought-resistant varieties is the most effective and economical measure to cope with drought stress, and exploring drought-resistant genes is a foundation of drought-resistance breeding. Researches have showed that, the drought resistance of rice is a complex quantitative trait controlled by many genes, involving a complex network of genes. In this regulatory network, transcription factors play a vital role. Transcription factors refer to proteins that can specifically bind to the cis-acting elements in the promoter region of a gene, and they play an important role in regulating plant growth and development, metabolic processes, and biotic and abiotic stress processes. In rice, a variety of transcription factors involved in the response to drought stress have been identified, including members of the bZIP, MYB, NAC, DREB, WRKY, zinc finger protein, SPL, bHLH, MADS, heat shock protein and GRAS families. When rice is subjected to drought stress, these transcription factors regulate the adaptability of rice to drought stress by specifically regulating the expression of a series of downstream target genes. In this article, we review the function of transcription factors in rice response to drought stress in recent years. By thoroughly analyzing the biological functions and mechanisms of action of transcription factors, it will help to strengthen the understanding about the molecular basis of rice drought resistance and provide an important theoretical basis for breeding new rice varieties with drought resistance.