OsDERF8 regulates rice leaf senescence through involvement in jasmonate signaling

Plant leaf senescence is regulated by complicated signaling network involving endogenous and environmental factors. Appropriate leaf senescence processing plays important roles in plant growth and stress response and contributes to crop production. The regulatory mechanism of leaf senescence has been widely investigated but still remains elusive. Here we identified the rice transcription factor OsDERF8 as the positive regulator of leaf senescence. Overexpression of OsDERF8 resulted in shortened reproductive stage and earlier leaf senescence, as well as lower grain yield. The knockout lines of OsDERF8 exhibited the “stay-green” phenotype and higher grain yield per plant. Dark induced senescence assays confirmed the function of OsDERF8 in senescence regulation. The leaves of OsDERF8 knockout lines showed less sensitivity to dark treatment with slighter chloroplast damage. OsDERF8 knockout mutants also exhibited less sensitivity to jasmonate (JA) treatment with higher chlorophyll accumulation and less root inhibition. Transcriptomic analysis and promoter-luciferase assays indicated that OsDERF8 regulated multiple senescence related genes, plant hormone related genes and photosynthesis genes. Taken together, OsDERF8 positively regulates rice leaf senescence through JA signaling and might be used for molecular breeding to increase grain yield.