The plant MADS-box transcription factors constitute a class of proteins that possess the MADS-box structural domain. These proteins play crucial roles in regulating plant growth and development, as well as in responding to adversity. The biological functions of rice MADS-box transcription factors have gained significant attention, leading to numerous research advancements. The functions of at least 33 of the 75 known rice MADS-box family members have been studied and reported,and they play pivotal roles in flower development, spikelet development, plant height morphogenesis, root development, flowering habit, seed development, and responses to both biotic and abiotic stresses,such as drought, salinity, high temperature, low temperature, and rice blast. Research has shown that MADS-box members form a complex regulatory network by interacting with each other or with other transcription factors, which mainly involves phytohormone signaling, reactive oxygen species homeostasis, osmotic adjustment, ubiquitination, DNA methylation and the synergistic effects among them. It was found that most MADS-box family members are involved in the regulation of growth and development, especially flower development, and there is redundancy in the biological functions of some of them, but they may play roles in different developmental stages, tissue types, or environmental conditions, and more in-depth analysis of the functional specificity and redundancy of these genes is needed in the future in order to reveal their unique roles in the growth and development of rice. However, there are still numerous members of the rice MADS-box family whose functions are unknown, and more research is needed to reveal their roles. Notably, some rice MADS-box members show potential application value, and the efficient utilization of these genetic resources to improve traits such as yield, quality, and stress tolerance of rice through prime editing and heavy ion beam irradiation mutagenesis technology is an important direction for future research.In this paper, we summarize the biological functions of rice MADS-box transcription factors, aiming to provide insights and strategies for rice molecular breeding.
