Rice terpene synthase 20 (OsTPS20) plays an important role in producing terpene volatiles in response to abiotic stresses

This study examined the volatile terpenes produced by rice seedlings in response to oxidative stress induced by various abiotic factors. Solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS) analyses revealed that when exposed to UV-B radiation, rice seedlings emitted a bouquet of monoterpene mixtures in a time-dependent manner. The mixtures comprised limonene, sabinene, myrcene, alpha-terpinene, beta-ocimene, gamma-terpinene, and alpha-terpinolene. Among them, (S)-limonene was the most abundant volatile, discriminated by chiral SPME-GC-MS. The volatile profiles collected from rice plants treated with both gamma-irradiation and H2O2 were identical to those observed in the UV-B irradiated plants, thus indicating that the volatile mixtures were specifically produced in response to oxidative stress, particularly in the presence of H2O2. Using a reverse genetics approach, we isolated full-length rice terpene synthase 20 (OsTPS20, 599 amino acids, 69.39 kDa), which was further characterized as an (S)-limonene synthase by removing the N-terminal signal peptide (63 amino acids) of the protein. The recombinant OsTPS20 protein catalyzed the conversion of geranyl diphosphate to (S)-limonene and other minor monoterpenes, essentially covering all of the volatile compounds detected from the plant. Moreover, qRT-PCR revealed that the transcript levels of OsTPS20 were significantly induced in response to oxidative stress, thereby suggesting that OsTPS20 plays a major role in producing terpene volatiles during abiotic stress. Detailed biochemical analyses and the unusual domain characteristics of OsTPS20 are also discussed in this report.