Monosaccharide transporter OsMST6 is activated by transcription factor OsERF120 to enhance chilling tolerance in rice seedlings

Chilling stress caused by extreme weather is threatening global rice
(Oryza sativa L.) production. Identifying components of the signal
transduction pathways underlying chilling tolerance in rice would advance
molecular breeding. Here, we report that OsMST6, which encodes a
monosaccharide transporter, positively regulates the chilling tolerance of
rice seedlings. The mst6 mutants showed hypersensitivity to chilling,
while the OsMST6 overexpression lines were tolerant. During chilling
stress, OsMST6 transported more glucose into cells to modulate sugar and
ABA signal pathways. We showed that the transcription factor OsERF120
could bind to the DRE/CRT element of the OsMST6 promoter and activate the
expression of OsMST6 to positively regulate chilling tolerance.
Genetically, OsERF120 was functionally dependent on OsMST6 when promoting
chilling tolerance. In summary, OsERF120 and OsMST6 form a new downstream
chilling regulatory pathway in rice in response to chilling stress,
providing valuable findings for molecular breeding aimed at achieving
global food security. The stored data is the analysis results of
transcriptome data from ZH11 and mst6-1 after 0 hours and 4 hours
of chilling treatment. These data form the basis for the transcriptome
data visualization in the article.