Histone Acetyltransferase GCN5 Regulates Rice Growth and Development and Enhances Salt Tolerance

Histone acetylation, is indispensable in the process of crops resisting abiotic stress, which is jointly catalyzed by histone acetyltransferase and deacetylase. However, the mechanism of regulating salt tolerance through histone acetyltransferase GCN5 is still unclear. We reveal that OsGCN5 can catalyze the acetylation of canonical H3 and H4 lysine sites in vivo and in vitro in rice. The knockout mutants and RNAi lines of OsGCN5 exhibited severe growth inhibition and defects in salt tolerance, while the overexpression of OsGCN5 enhanced the salt tolerance of rice seedlings, indicating that OsGCN5 positively regulates the response process of rice to salt stress. The RNA-seq analysis suggest OsGCN5 may positively regulate the salt tolerance of rice by inhibiting the expression of OsHKT2;1, or other salt-responsive genes. Taken together, our study indicates that GCN5 plays a key role in the preservation of salt tolerance in rice.