Oxidative Stress in Rice (Oryza sativa): Mechanisms, Impact, and Adaptive Strategies

Oxidative stress, arising from environmental challenges such as drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, and pathogen attack, significantly impairs rice (Oryza sativa) growth, yield, and grain quality. This review provides a comprehensive synthesis of the mechanisms underlying oxidative stress in rice, with a focus on the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), their physiological and molecular impacts, and the antioxidant defense systems employed for mitigation. The roles of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, along with key transcription factors, signaling pathways, and stress-responsive genes, are explored in detail. This study further highlights varietal differences in oxidative stress tolerance, emphasizing traditional, modern, and genetically engineered rice cultivars. Recent advances in breeding strategies, gene editing technologies, and multi-omics integration are discussed as promising approaches for enhancing stress resilience. The regulatory influence of epigenetic modifications and small RNAs in modulating oxidative stress responses is also examined. Finally, this paper identifies critical research gaps—including the need for multi-stress tolerance, long-term field validation, and deeper insights into non-coding RNA functions—and offers recommendations to inform the development of climate-resilient rice varieties through integrative, sustainable strategies.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Plants

• Publication date

  2025-05-01

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3390/plants14101463PMID 40431027PMCID 12114693
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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