Emerging Role of Osmolytes in Enhancing Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Rice

The growth and yield of rice plants are hampered drastically when exposed to various abiotic stresses as rice is sensitive to most of the stressors. As a stress response, plants accumulate different osmolytes such as proline, glycine betaine, trehalose, sorbitol, mannitol, inositol, etc., which are responsible for osmotic adjustment under osmotic stress. Apart from osmotic regulation these have an active role in maintaining membrane integrity, stabilizing proteins, alleviating ionic toxicity, protecting cellular components, scavenging reactive oxygen species, and defending antioxidant compounds as well as balancing cellular redox under various abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, high temperature, metal toxicity, flooding, etc. However, all plant species can’t accumulate or produce significant amounts of these compounds under stress which is why genetically…