Drought is one of the most destructive abiotic stresses that impacts
crop development and yield. Previous studies have shown a link between
lignin production and drought tolerance, but the molecular mechanisms
are still to be identified. Thus, the researchers studied the role of
rice gene/CINNAMOYL-CoA REDUCTASE 10/(/OsCCR10/). They found that this
gene is directly activated by the OsNAC5 transcription factor, which
mediates drought tolerance by controlling the buildup of lignin.  The
OsCCR10 transcript levels were found to increase in response to abiotic
stresses, such as drought, high salinity, and abscisic acid. The
transcripts were found to be present in roots at all developmental stages.

Transgenic rice plants overexpressing OsCCR10 exhibited enhanced drought
tolerance at the vegetative stages of growth, and with higher
photosynthetic efficiency, lower water loss rates, and higher lignin
content in roots compared to non-transgenic counterparts. On the other
hand, the CRISPR-Cas9-mediated OsCCR10 knock-out mutants showed reduced
lignin accumulation in roots and less drought tolerance.

Transcriptional activation of rice CINNAMOYLâ?�CoA REDUCTASE 10 by OsNAC5,
contributes to drought tolerance by modulating lignin accumulation in
roots - Bang - - Plant Biotechnology Journal - Wiley Online Library
[onlinelibrary.wiley.com]