# Transcriptomic Profiling of Two Rice Thermo-Sensitive Genic Male Sterile Lines with Contrasting Seed Storability after Artificial Accelerated Aging Treatment

## TL;DR

This study compares gene activity in rice seeds with different storage abilities after aging treatment, identifying key genes linked to seed longevity.

## Contribution

The study identifies novel genes and molecular pathways associated with seed storability in thermo-sensitive male sterile rice lines.

## Key findings

- 2658 and 1523 differentially expressed genes were identified in storage-tolerant and storage-susceptible rice lines, respectively.
- Key genes like Os03g0100100 (OsPMEI12) and Os03g0710500 (OsBiP2) were found to be associated with seed storability.
- Gene ontology and KEGG analysis revealed enriched biological processes like translation, ribosome, and oxidative phosphorylation during seed aging.

## Abstract

Seed storability has a significant impact on seed vitality and is a crucial genetic factor in maintaining seed value during storage. In this study, RNA sequencing was used to analyze the seed transcriptomes of two rice thermo-sensitive genic male sterile (TGMS) lines, S1146S (storage-tolerant) and SD26S (storage-susceptible), with 0 and 7 days of artificial accelerated aging treatment. In total, 2658 and 1523 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in S1146S and SD26S, respectively. Among these DEGs, 729 (G1) exhibited similar regulation patterns in both lines, while 1924 DEGs (G2) were specific to S1146S, 789 DEGs (G3) were specific to SD26S, and 5 DEGs (G4) were specific to contrary differential expression levels. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that “translation”, “ribosome”, “oxidative phosphorylation”, “ATP-dependent activity”, “intracellular protein transport”, and “regulation of DNA-templated transcription” were significantly enriched during seed aging. Several genes, like Os01g0971400, Os01g0937200, Os03g0276500, Os05g0328632, and Os07g0214300, associated with seed storability were identified in G4. Core genes Os03g0100100 (OsPMEI12), Os03g0320900 (V2), Os02g0494000, Os02g0152800, and Os03g0710500 (OsBiP2) were identified in protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks. Seed vitality genes, MKKK62 (Os01g0699600), OsFbx352 (Os10g0127900), FSE6 (Os05g0540000), and RAmy3E (Os08g0473600), related to seed storability were identified. Overall, these results provide novel perspectives for studying the molecular response and related genes of different-storability rice TGMS lines under artificial aging conditions. They also provide new ideas for studying the storability of hybrid rice.