Allelic Diversity of OsEPF2 Governing Stomatal Regulation in Rice

Rice production has been significantly hindered by frequent drought events in recent times, directly impacting food security and agricultural sustainability. In the current study, a set of 100 diverse rice accessions from 3K RG panel were evaluated for Epidermal patterning factor 2 (OsEPF2) loci which governs stomatal density on matured leaves preventing excessive development. This plays an important role tolerance plants. Hence, this gene was selected analyzing haplotype variation revealed 27 SNPs 59 INDELs. Seven significant non-synonymous SNPs, grouped one hundred into three groups with allelic combination CGATGCG H1, TTGGAAA H2 CGGGGCG H3. shows diversity population that can be potentially employed breeding varieties improved water use efficiency assembling superior haplotype.