| Summary: | <b> </b>Rice (<i>Oryza sativa</i>) responds to various abiotic stresses during growth. Plant-specific NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2 (NAC) transcription factors (TFs) play an important role in controlling numerous vital growth and developmental processes. To date, 170 NAC TFs have been reported in rice, but their roles remain largely unknown. Herein, we discovered that the TF OsNAC006 is constitutively expressed in rice, and regulated by H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>, cold, heat, abscisic acid (ABA), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), gibberellin (GA), NaCl, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) 6000 treatments. Furthermore, knockout of <i>OsNAC006</i> using the CRISPR-Cas9 system resulted in drought and heat sensitivity. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) transcriptome analysis revealed that <i>OsNAC006</i> regulates the expression of genes mainly involved in response to stimuli, oxidoreductase activity, cofactor binding, and membrane-related pathways. Our findings elucidate the important role of <i>OsNAC006</i> in drought responses, and provide valuable information for genetic manipulation to enhance stress tolerance in future plant breeding programs.
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