OsDIS1-mediated stress response pathway in rice.

Ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation has been well demonstrated as a key regulatory mechanism in response to drought stress in Arabidopsis. However, the biological function of most E3 ligase genes in drought response is still unknown in rice. We recently showed that OsDIS1 (Oryza sativa drought-induced SINA protein 1), a SINA type E3 ligase, is involved in the drought-stress signal transduction in rice. OsDIS1 plays a negative role in drought stress tolerance through the transcriptional regulation of diverse stress-related genes and also possibly through the posttranslational regulation of its interacting protein OsNek6 in rice. Here we also show that OsDIS1 interacts with OsSKIPa, a drought and salt stress positive regulator in rice. Based on these results, we propose a working model for the function of OsDIS1 in regulating the stress signaling pathway in rice.