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J Integr Plant Biol.

• Research Article •    

Sodium butyrate regulates the sulfur respiration of rhizosphere soil to produce hydrogen sulfide modulating histone acetylation dynamics to enhance drought tolerance in rice

Xu Chen1,2†, Jialin Ge1†, Xingjing Cai1,2†, Lei Jin2, Huanhe Wei1, Xinru Zhao1, Haidong Yang1, Wen Jiang2, Zhukuan Cheng1,2, Chao Xue2, Xi Cao1, Zhiying Wang2, Qigen Dai3*, Yong Zhou1,2,4*, Zhiyun Gong1,2,4*   

  1. 1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding/Zhongshan Biological Breeding Laboratory/Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education, Agricultural College of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China

    2. Jiangsu Co‐Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China

    3. Institutes of Agricultural Science and Technology Development/Joint International Research, Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri‐Product Safety, the Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China

    4. Yangzhou Modern Seed Innovation Institute, Gaoyou 225600, China

    †These authors contributed equally to this work.

    *Correspondences: Qigen Dai (qgdai@yzu.edu.cn); Yong Zhou (zhouyong@yzu.edu.cn); Zhiyun Gong (zygong@yzu.edu.cn, Dr. Gong is fully responsible for the distribution of all materials associated with this article)

  • Revised:2024-11-27 Accepted:2025-07-30 Online:2025-09-11
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Key R&D Programof China (Grant No. 2023YFD1200800), the Key R&D Pro-gram of Jiangsu Province (Modern Agriculture) (Grant No.BE2022335), Outstanding Youth Fund of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20230013), the Project of Zhongshan Biological Breeding Laboratory (Grant No. ZSBBL‐KY2024‐01), the Jiangsu Province Government (Grant No. JBGS[2021]001) and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD).

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Abstract: Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a well-established gaseous signaling molecule, can effectively enhance plant tolerance to various environmental stresses. However, there is still a lack of suitable methods to release H2S in agricultural production, and the mechanism by which H2S improves stress resistance remains poorly understood. Here, we show the novel role of sodium butyrate (NaB) in producing H2S consistently in rice rhizosphere soil and the epigenetic mechanism of H2S to enhance rice drought tolerance. We found that NaB increased sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) abundance in the rhizosphere soil, resulting in higher expression of sulfite reductase (SiR), and consequently increased H2S production. Mechanistic investigation showed that H2S enhanced the level of H4K5ac in promoter regions of drought-tolerant genes, facilitating their expression by repressing the histone deacetylase (HDAC) gene OsHDA710. Loss-of-function mutants of OsHDA710 exhibited enhanced drought tolerance compared to wild-type (WT) plants, while OsHDA710 overexpression plants showed drought hypersensitivity. Moreover, we demonstrated that OsHDA710 could bind directly to promoters of drought-tolerance genes by recognizing the TGACC motif. Our findings illustrate an efficient way to produce H2S and a novel mechanism for H2S in improving the drought resistance of plants.

Key words: drought, H2S, OsHDA710, rice

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