Chlorophyll fluorescence-based high-throughput phenotyping facilitates the genetic dissection of photosynthetic heat tolerance in African (Oryza glaberrima) and Asian (Oryza sativa) rice.

Rising temperatures and extreme heat events threaten rice production. Half of the global population relies on rice for basic nutrition, therefore developing heat tolerant rice is essential. During vegetative development, reduced photosynthetic rates can limit growth and the capacity to store soluble carbohydrates. The photosystem II (PSII) complex is a particularly heat-labile component of photosynthesis. We have developed a high-throughput chlorophyll fluorescence-based screen for photosynthetic heat tolerance (PHT) capable of screening hundreds of plants daily. Through measuring the response of maximum PSII efficiency to increasing temperature, this platform generates data for modelling the PSII-temperature relationship in large populations in a small amount of time. Coefficients from these models (PHT traits) demonstrated high heritabilities across African (Oryza glaberrima) and Asian (Oryza sativa, Bengal Assam Aus Panel (BAAP)) rice diversity sets, highlighting valuable genetic variation accessible for breeding. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were performed across both species for these traits, representing the first documented attempt to characterise the genetic basis of PHT in any species to date. 133 candidate genes were highlighted. These were significantly enriched with genes whose predicted roles suggested influence on PSII activity and the response to stress. We discuss the most promising candidates for improving PHT in rice.