Exogenous β-Glucan Promotes Growth and Exerts Regulatory Effects in Rice

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a highly valued staple food that is widely consumed worldwide. As the global population continues to grow rapidly, enhancing rice yields becomes essential to meet the increasing demand. β-Glucan has been recognized as a novel immunomodulatory agent. In the present study, we observed that β-glucan stimulates the growth of rice plants and activates the photosynthetic pathway. To explore the underlying molecular mechanisms, we conducted transcriptome sequencing and molecular validation on rice plants treated with either water or β-glucan. Our findings revealed that, compared to plants treated with water, those exposed to β-glucan exhibited a significant increase in the relative expression of genes linked to chloroplast development and photosynthesis. Additionally, we identified a total of 821 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between rice plants treated with water and those treated with 50 mg/L of β-glucan, with 373 genes showing upregulation and 448 showing downregulation. Evaluations from the volcano plot, Gene Ontology (GO) functional annotation, and enrichment analysis indicated that these DEGs were mainly enriched in biological processes associated with carbohydrate metabolism and biomass regulation. This study concludes that β-glucan effectively enhances rice growth by improving photosynthetic efficiency. The results provide important insights into the application of exogenous β-glucan for boosting rice productivity.