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Molecular Plant Breeding 2011, Vol.2, No.14, 98
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100
http://mpb.sophiapublisher.com
98
Review Open Access
OMICS Based Strategies for Efficient Accumulation of Silicon in Rice to
Enhance Its Tolerance against Environmental Stresses
Sajad Majeed Zargar
1
, Muslima Nazir
2
, Ganesh Kumar Agarwal
3
, Randeep Rakwal
4,5
1. School of Biotechnology, SKUAST-J, Chatha, Jammu, J&K-180009, India
2. Department of Botany, Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi-110062, India
3. Research Laboratory for Biotechnology and Biochemistry (RLABB), Kathmandu, Nepal
4. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, 305-8572, Japan
5. Department of Anatomy I, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo 142-8555, Japan
Corresponding author email:
smzargar@rediffmail.com;
Author
Molecular Plant Breeding, 2011, Vol.2 No.14 doi: 10.5376/mpb.2011.02.00014
Received: 01, Jun., 2011
Accepted: 15, Jul., 2011
Published: 15, Aug., 2011
This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Zargar et al., 2011, OMICS based strategies for efficient accumulation of silicon in rice to enhance its tolerance against environmental stresses, Molecular Plant
Breeding Vol.2 No.14 (doi: 10.5376/mpb.2011.02.0014)
Abstract
Silicon (Si) is a micronutrient. Its amount has been found to vary from plant to plant. Si in rice has been shown to provide
tolerance against various biotic and abiotic stresses, especially rice blast and drought. Although rice contains higher amount of Si
compared to other crops but the concentration varies between different species. In our own study we observed variation in the Si
content among various genotypes of rice. A positive correlation between Si content in various plant parts of aerobically grown rice
and the yield traits was observed, indicating the role of Si in giving tolerance against water stress. The genes responsible for Si
accumulation in rice are known. However, the proteins induced due to Si application are to yet be mined. Here we propose a strategy
based on genomics (molecular breeding) and proteomics approaches for effective utilization/incorporation of Si in commonly
cultivated rice varieties to enhance its tolerance to various stresses.
Keywords
Silicon; Rice; Drought; Biotic stress; Abiotic stress
Background
Among the major elements on this planet, silicon (Si)
is known to be only second in abundance to oxygen in
the outermost solid layer (crust) of our earth (Bond
and McAuliffe, 2003). Moreover, Si has been accepted
as an useful element for plant growth and
development, not for all but in some species that have
been studied (Gascho, 2001).Silicon has lot of
beneficial effects (Epstein, 2001). It enhances the
growth and yield, gives resistance against lodging, and
enhances photosynthesis, resistance against phytopa-
thogens, and resistance to abiotic stress like salinity,
drought and protection against temperature extremes.
Our own study revealed that rice genotypes with
higher Si content show better tolerance to water stress
and a positive correlation between Si content and yield
attributing traits in aerobically grown rice was
observed (Zargar et al., 2010). Earlier it was believed
that Si accumulation in the cell wall prevents the
pathogen entry, however recent evidences suggest that
Si stimulates the expression of disease resistance
genes in dicotyledons (Fawe et al., 2001). Silicon is
deposited in plant cells and tissues, where it is known
to help relieve the stress caused due to lack of water
by reducing transpiration, improving light capture via
an erect leaf blade, enhancing resistance towards
pathogens and pests,improving nutrient imbalances,
etc (Marschner, 1995; Epstein, 1994; Ma et al., 2002).
In rice, the applied Si helped to reduce cadmium
accumulation incytoplasm, vacuole and other cellular
organelles (Nwugo et al., 2008). All this illustrates the
potential of Si.
The importance of rice as a essential crop plant is
beyond doubt. It can be said that rice is a universal
food grain being eaten by many peoples in various
cultures. The United Nations launched 2004 as the
International Year of Rice with theme-“Rice is
life”-that reveals the critical importance of rice as one