{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T14:57:41Z","timestamp":1790866661334,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]],"date-time":"2026-09-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789776000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province of China","award":["20242BAB26096"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["20242BAB26096"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002855","name":"National Key Research and Development Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2021YFD2200504"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021YFD2200504"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002855","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Int. J. Mol. Sci.","IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a staple food crop globally, and identifying genes governing grain yield is critical for food security. Although heat shock proteins (HSPs) are known for their roles in stress tolerance, the molecular mechanisms by which they regulate yield formation remain unclear. In this study, we generated knockout and overexpression lines for OsHSP20 which is encoding a member of the Hsp20\/alpha crystallin family, LOC_Os10g30162.1 (It is also one of the four candidate genes discovered during our fine mapping of major QTLs for photosynthetic rate in rice.), and performed integrated analyses combining field phenotyping, multi-stress assays, and transcriptomics. Phenotypic analyses revealed that OsHSP20 deficiency resulted in compromised plant architecture, leaf morphology, tillering, and panicle development, leading to a significant reduction in grain setting rate. Conversely, OsHSP20 overexpression enhanced drought tolerance. Mechanistically, transcriptomic and functional analyses demonstrated that OsHSP20 maintains protein homeostasis under drought stress via its chaperone activity; this function orchestrates a coordinated regulatory network involving lipid barrier formation, antioxidant defense, and carbon allocation. Our findings establish OsHSP20 as a positive regulator of both yield and drought resilience, improving crop adaptability by balancing growth and stress responses. In addition, our previous research has shown that OsHSP20 is actually one of the important components of the main QTL for rice photosynthetic rate. Therefore, this study can provide new genetic resources and a theoretical basis for cultivating rice varieties with high yield, stress resistant, and a high photosynthetic rate.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27188341","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T14:23:56Z","timestamp":1790864636000},"page":"8341","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Dual Regulation of the Rice Yield Traits and Stress Resilience by OsHSP20: Insights from Integrative Biochemical and Transcriptomic Analyses"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"given":"Yan","family":"Liao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Plant Functional Genes and Tissue Culture Technology, College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Muneeba","family":"Saleem","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Plant Functional Genes and Tissue Culture Technology, College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Plant Functional Genes and Tissue Culture Technology, College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qingping","family":"Pang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Plant Functional Genes and Tissue Culture Technology, College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Juan","family":"Du","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Plant Functional Genes and Tissue Culture Technology, College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qianhui","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Plant Functional Genes and Tissue Culture Technology, College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Siyao","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Plant Functional Genes and Tissue Culture Technology, College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Baishi","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Plant Functional Genes and Tissue Culture Technology, College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiong","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Plant Functional Genes and Tissue Culture Technology, College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yuanyuan","family":"Nie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Super Rice Research and Development Center, Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanchang 330200, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lin","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Plant Functional Genes and Tissue Culture Technology, College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hanhua","family":"Tong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Plant Functional Genes and Tissue Culture Technology, College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Breeding, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou 311410, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhen","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Plant Functional Genes and Tissue Culture Technology, College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haohua","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Agriculture College, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7583-7169","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Songping","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Plant Functional Genes and Tissue Culture Technology, College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17031","DOI":"10.1038\/nplants.2017.31","article-title":"Rational design of high-yield and superior-quality 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