OsRHS Negatively Regulates Rice Heat Tolerance at the Flowering Stage by Interacting With the HSP Protein cHSP70‐4

ABSTRACT Heat stress at the flowering stage significantly impacts rice grain yield, yet the number of identified genes associated with rice heat tolerance at this crucial stage remains limited. This study focuses on elucidating the function of the heat‐induced gene reduced heat stress tolerance 1 ( OsRHS ). Overexpression of OsRHS leads to reduced heat tolerance, while RNAi silencing or knockout of OsRHS enhances heat tolerance without compromising yield, as assessed by the seed setting rate. OsRHS is localized in the cytoplasm and mainly expressed in the glume and anther of spikelet. Moreover, OsRHS was found to interact with the HSP protein cHSP70‐4, and the knockout of cHSP70‐4 resulted in increased heat tolerance. Complementation assays revealed that the knockout of cHSP70‐4 could restore the compromised heat tolerance in OsRHS overexpression plants. Additional investigation reveals that elevated temperatures can amplify the bond between OsRHS and cHSP70‐4 within rice. Furthermore, our findings indicate that under heat stress conditions during the flowering stage, OsRHS plays a negative regulatory role in the expression of many stress‐related genes. These findings unveil the crucial involvement of OsRHS and cHSP70‐4 in modulating heat tolerance in rice and identify novel target genes for enhancing heat resilience during the flowering phase in rice.