Aerenchyma formation in rice under flooding
One of the adaptive traits of rice that allow it to withstand submergence is the presence of aerenchyma, which allow transport of oxygen to submerged organs. Parlanti et al. study aerenchyma development in two varieties of rice (Oryza sativa) that show contrasting responses to flooding in terms of internode elongation. They show that whilst ethylene controls arenchyma formation in the fast-elongating variety, the non-elongating variety also produces more arenchyma but without an increase in ethylene; instead, it is associated with an increase in levels of hydrogen peroxide.
