Regulation of Ethylene Biosynthesis by Phytohormones in Etiolated Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Seedlings

The gaseous hormone ethylene influences many aspects of plant growth, development, and responses to a variety of stresses. The biosynthesis of ethylene is tightly regulated by various internal and external stimuli, and the primary target of the regulation is the enzyme 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) synthase (ACS), which catalyzes the rate-limiting step of ethylene biosynthesis. We have previously demonstrated that the regulation of ethylene biosynthesis is a common feature of most of the phytohormones in etiolated Arabidopsis seedlings via the modulation of the protein stability of ACS. Here, we show that various phytohormones also regulate ethylene biosynthesis from etiolated rice seedlings in a similar manner to those in Arabidopsis. Cytokinin, brassinosteroids, and gibberellic acid increase ethylene biosynthesis without changing the transcript levels of neither OsACS nor ACC oxidases (OsACO), a family of enzymes catalyzing the final step of the ethylene biosynthetic pathway. Likewise, salicylic acid and abscisic acid do not alter the gene expression of OsACS, but both hormones downregulate the transcript levels of a subset of ACO genes, resulting in a decrease in ethylene biosynthesis. In addition, we show that the treatment of the phytohormones results in distinct etiolated seedling phenotypes, some of which resemble ethylene-responsive phenotypes, while others display ethylene-independent morphologies, indicating a complicated hormone crosstalk in rice. Together, our study brings a new insight into crosstalk between ethylene biosynthesis and other phytohormones, and provides evidence that rice ethylene biosynthesis could be regulated by the post-transcriptional regulation of ACS proteins.