Salt stress tolerance in rice (Oryza sativa L.): A proteomic overview of recent advances and future prospects

Salt stress is one of the major impairments to agricultural soil that significantly reduces growth and productivity in rice (Oryza sativa L.) and other crop plants. The proteomic mechanisms underlying salt stress tolerance in rice have not been well established. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of molecular mechanisms associated with salt signaling, salt-toxicity detoxification, and other metabolic mechanisms is essential for elucidating salt tolerance mechanisms in rice as well as ensuring global food security. Recent proteome studies have provided a global proteomic signature of rice cultivars. Integrative studies of proteomic, physiological, and molecular responses under salt stress have provided detailed mechanisms associated with salt stress tolerance in rice. This review explores the proteomic mechanisms with finely-tuned salt-responsive networks in this cereal. Several proteomic processes, including salt sensing and signaling, scavenging of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and stress defense, salt compartmentalization and homeostasis, alterations of cell wall components, modulation of the cytoskeleton, regulation of salt-responsive genes, transcription factors, and protein synthesis, protein folding and processing, protein degradation, and strategies of carbohydrate and energy metabolism for organ development, elucidate extensive molecular mechanisms linked to salt stress responses and tolerance in rice. Further, it is updated the prospects of salt stress tolerance in rice using multi-omics and CRISPR/Cas approaches. These finely-tuned molecular insights will be beneficial to rice breeders and farmers for developing high-yielding, salt-tolerant rice cultivars to achieve global food security.