We have previously investigated the proteome changes of rice leaves under heat stress (Lee et al. in Proteomics 2007a, 7:3369- 3383), wherein a group of antioxidant proteins and heat shock proteins (HSPs) were found to be regulated differently. The present study focuses on the biochemical changes and gene expression profiles of heat shock protein and antioxidant genes in rice leaves in response to heat stress (42°C) during a wide range of exposure times. The results show that hydrogen peroxide and proline contents increased significantly, suggesting an oxidative burst and osmotic imbalance under heat stress. The mRNA levels of chaperone 60, HSP70, HSP100, chloroplastic HSP26, and mitochondrial small HSP responded rapidly and showed maximum expression after 0.5 or 2 h under heat stress. Transcript levels of ascorbate peroxidase (APX), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase (Cu-Zn SOD) showed a rapid and marked accumulation upon heat stress. While prolonged exposure to heat stress resulted in increased transcript levels of monodehydroascorbate reductase, peroxidase, glyoxalase 1, glutathione reductase, thioredoxin peroxidase, 2-Cysteine peroxiredoxin, and nucleoside diphosphate kinase 1, while the transcription of catalase was suppressed. Consistent with their changes in gene expression, the enzyme activities of APX and DHAR also increased significantly following exposure to heat stress. These results suggest that oxidative stress is usually caused by heat stress, and plants apply complex HSP- and antioxidant-mediated defense mechanisms to cope with heat stress.

With the aim to analyze stability performance of six promising barley genotypes, eleven yield related characters were evaluated employing varied irrigation treatments under the tropical climate of Northern part in Bangladesh. Analysis of variance(ANOVA), phenotypic index, regression co-efficient(bi) and deviation from regression(s2d ) of the individual genotypes were estimated to evaluate the stable performance of the genotypes. A significant interaction was observed between the genotypes and irrigation period(G~timesT ). Among all the genotypes, BSH-2 showed stable performance for plant height under different irrigation period, where P>~barX,~;bi~1~;and~;s2d~0. High phenotypic index, lower bi value and low deviations from regression were observed in case of spikelet number per spike and grain number per spike for genotype BSH-2 and plant height, spike length and harvest index per plant for BB-2 which suggest that those parameters were not usually affected by irrigation. On the other hand the genotype BSH-2 for tiller number and BB-1 for the fertile tiller number were not suitable for favorable moisture content, where P<~barX,~;bi>1.0~;and~;low~;s2d. Thus we suggest that genotype BSH-2 might have transmit high mean and increased phenotypic stability to the next progenies, which may consider as an ideal genotype for developing improved barely cultivars.