Phosphatase OsPP2C27 directly dephosphorylates OsMAPK3 and OsbHLH002 to negatively regulate cold tolerance in rice.

Improving chilling tolerance is a major target of rice breeding. The OsMAPK3-OsbHLH002-OsTPP1 signalling pathway enhances chilling tolerance in rice: the kinase is activated by cold stress, and subsequently the transcription factor is phosphorylated by the activated kinase, triggering the expression of cold response genes. However, it is largely unknown how this pathway is suppressed in time to avoid it being in a continuously activated state. We found that a novel type 2C protein phosphatase, OsPP2C27, functions as a negative regulator of the OsMAPK3-OsbHLH002-OsTPP1 pathway. A dynamic change in OsMAPK3 activity was found during cold treatment. We show that OsPP2C27 interacts physically with and dephosphorylates OsMAPK3 in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, OsPP2C27 can also directly dephosphorylate OsbHLH002, the target of OsMAPK3. After cold treatment, survival rates were higher in OsPP2C27-RNAi lines and a T-DNA insertion mutant, and lower in OsPP2C27-overexpression lines, compared to wild type. Moreover, expression of the OsTPP1 and OsDREBs were increased in OsPP2C27-RNAi lines and decreased in OsPP2C27-overexpression lines. These results indicate that cold-induced OsPP2C27 negatively regulates the OsMAPK3-OsbHLH002-OsTPP1 signalling pathway by directly dephosphorylating both phospho-OsMAPK3 and phospho-OsbHLH002, preventing the sustained activation of a positive pathway for cold stress and maintaining normal growth under chilling conditions.