A C2H2 zinc-finger protein OsZFP213 interacts with OsMAPK3 to enhance salt tolerance in rice.

Improvement of salt tolerance is one of the major targets in rice breeding. Here, we report that the zinc-finger protein (ZFP) OsZFP213 functions in enhancing salt tolerance in rice. OsZFP213 is localized in the nucleus and has transactivation activity. Transgenic rice overexpressing OsZFP213 showed enhanced salt tolerance compared with wild type and OsZFP213 RNAi plants. Furthermore, OsZFP213 overexpression plants showed higher transcription levels of antioxidant system genes and higher catalytic activity of scavenging enzymes of reactive oxygen, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT), and glutathione reductase (GR), and a lower level of ROS accumulation than that in wild type and OsZFP213 RNAi plants under salt treatment. Yeast two-hybrid, pull-down, and BiFC analysis showed that OsMAPK3 is a direct partner of OsZFP213, and this interaction enhanced the transactivation activity of OsZFP213. Taken together, these results suggest that OsZFP213 cooperates with OsMAPK3 in the regulation of rice salt stress tolerance by enhancing the ability of scavenging reactive oxygen.