The rapid development of global industrialization has led to serious environmental problems, among which global warming has become one of the major concerns. The gradual rise in global temperature resulted in the loss of food production, and hence a serious threat to world food security. Rice is the main crop for approximately half of the world’s population, and its geographic distribution, yield, and quality are frequently reduced due to elevated temperature stress, and breeding rice varieties with tolerance to heat stress is of immense significance. Therefore, it is critical to study the molecular mechanism of rice in response to heat stress. In the last decades, large amounts of studies have been conducted focusing on rice heat stress response. Valuable information has been obtained, which not only sheds light on the regulatory network underlying this physiological process but also provides some candidate genes for improved heat tolerance breeding in rice. In this review, we summarized the studies in this field. Hopefully, it will provide some new insights into the mechanisms of rice under high temperature stress and clues for future engineering breeding of improved heat tolerance rice.

全球工业化的快速发展带来了严重的环境问题，其中全球变暖已成为人们关注的重大问题之一。全球气温逐渐上升，导致粮食减产，严重威胁世界粮食安全。水稻是世界约一半人口的主要农作物，其地理分布、产量和品质经常因高温胁迫而降低，培育耐热胁迫的水稻品种具有重要意义。因此，研究水稻响应热胁迫的分子机制至关重要。在过去的几十年中，针对水稻热应激反应进行了大量的研究。我们获得了有价值的信息，不仅揭示了这一生理过程背后的调控网络，而且为提高水稻耐热性育种提供了一些候选基因。在这篇综述中，我们总结了该领域的研究。希望能为水稻高温胁迫机制的研究提供一些新的见解，为今后耐热水稻的工程育种提供线索。