Project description:Tiller angle is a key factor determining rice plant architecture, planting density, light interception, photosynthetic efficiency, disease resistance, and grain yield. The distribution of auxin and shoot gravitropism play important roles in regulating tiller angles of rice. Several tiller angle-associated genes have been cloned. However, the mechanisms underlying tiller angle control are far from clear. In this study, we isolate bta1-1, a mutant with an enlarged tiller angle throughout its life cycle. A detailed analysis reveals that BTA1 has multiple functions because several major agronomic traits, including tiller and panicle number, biomass production, secondary branch number per panicle, panicle weight, grain size, and grain weight, are increased in bta1-1 plants. Moreover, BTA1 is a positive regulator of shoot gravitropism in rice. Shoot responses to gravistimulation are disrupted in bta1-1 under both light and dark conditions. Gene cloning reveals that bta1-1 is a novel mutant allele of LA1. LA1 is able to rescue the tiller angle and shoot gravitropism defects observed in bta1-1. BTA1/LA1 is required to regulate the expression of auxin transporters and signaling factors that control shoot gravitropism and tiller angle. High-throughput mRNA sequencing is performed to elucidate the molecular and cellular functions of BTA1/LA1. The results show that BTA1/LA1 may have multiple functions in regulating nucleosome and chromatin assembly, and protein and DNA interactions. Our results provide new insight into the mechanisms whereby BTA1/LA1 controls shoot gravitropism and tiller angle in rice.
Project description:- Pollen tube growth is important process for successful double fertilization, which is critical for grain yield in crop plants. Despite much progress in identification of rapid alkalization factors (RALFs) which serve as ligand for signaling transduction during fertilization in Arabidopsis, there is no functional study of RALF in mono-cotyledon plant. - We functionally characterized two pollen specific RALF in rice (Oryza sativa) using multiple CRISPR/Cas9 induced loss-of-function mutants, peptide treatment, expression analyses, tag reporter lines. - OsRALF17 is specifically expressed in pollen and pollen tube as the strongest level among 41 RALF members in rice. Exogenously applied OsRALF17 inhibits pollen tube germination and elongation at high concentration, but enhances tube elongation at low concentration, indicating the regulation of growth balance. Double mutant of OsRALF17 with OsRALF19 exhibit almost male sterile, with defect on pollen germination and tube elongation. - Our study revealed that functionally-redundant OsRALF17 and 19 peptides binds to the OsMTD2, CrRLK1L family member, and transmits ROS signal for pollen tube germination and integrity maintenance in rice. We provide new insights into the role of RALF and expanding our understanding of the biological role of RALF in regulating rice fertilization.
Project description:The Oryza longistaminata is a perennial wild rice species with AA genome, which characterized by the presence of rhizomatous stem. The rhizomatousness trait in rice was previously identified quantitatively controlled by many genes, but the molecular mechanism related to the rhizome initiation and elongation is still unknown. In this study, the specific gene expression patterns across five tissues in O. longistaminata, especially in the rhizome were characterized by using the Affymetrix rice microarray platform, the rhizome-specific expressed genes and its corresponding regulatory were further analyzed. The different gene sets were determined exclusively expressed in five tissues; strikingly 58 genes with functions related to transcription regulation and cell proliferation were identified as prevalent sets in rhizome tip, of them, several genes were functionally involved in tiller initiation and elongation. And a set of genes were differentially regulated in the rhizome tip relative to shoot tip, the predominant repressed genes are involved in photosynthesis, while genes related to phytohormone and the gene families with redundancy function were obviously differentially regulated. Several cis-regulatory elements, including CGACG, GCCCORE, GAGAC and a Myb Core, were highly enriched in rhizome tip or internode, and two cis-elements such as RY repeat and TAAAG, which implicated in the ABA signaling pathway, were found overrepresented in the rhizome tip in comparison with shoot tip. A few rhizome-specific expressed genes were co-localized on the rhizome-related QTLs regions, indicating these genes may be good functional candidates for the rhizome related gene cloning. The whole genome profiling of oryza longistaminata indicated that a very complex gene regulatory network underlies rhizome development and growth, and there might be an overlapping regulatory mechanism in the establishment of rhizome and tiller. Phytohormone such as IAA and GA are involved in the signaling pathway in determining rhizome. Several cis-elements enriched in rhizome and the identified rhizome-specific genes co-localized on the rhizome-related QTL intervals provide a base for further dissection of the molecular mechanism of rhizomatousness In this study, the specific gene expression patterns across five tissues including rhizome tip (RT, distal 1 cm of the young rhizome), rhizome internodes (RI), shoot tip (ST, distal 5 mm of the tiller after removing all leaves), shoot internodes (SI) and young leaf (YL) in O. longistaminata, especially in the rhizome were characterized by using the Affymetrix rice microarray platform.
Project description:Rice transgenic lines over-expressing RDR3 were showing vigrous growth phenotype. Height and tiller number of over-expression lines were increased comapred to wild-type controls. Homology dependent silence line of RDR3 was extremley sick and did not survive beyond vegetative phase.
Project description:Rice transgenic lines over-expressing RDR3 were showing vigrous growth phenotype. Height and tiller number of over-expression lines were increased comapred to wild-type controls. Homology dependent silenced line of RDR3 was extremley sick and did not survive beyond vegetative phase.
Project description:The Oryza longistaminata is a perennial wild rice species with AA genome, which characterized by the presence of rhizomatous stem. The rhizomatousness trait in rice was previously identified quantitatively controlled by many genes, but the molecular mechanism related to the rhizome initiation and elongation is still unknown. In this study, the specific gene expression patterns across five tissues in O. longistaminata, especially in the rhizome were characterized by using the Affymetrix rice microarray platform, the rhizome-specific expressed genes and its corresponding regulatory were further analyzed. The different gene sets were determined exclusively expressed in five tissues; strikingly 58 genes with functions related to transcription regulation and cell proliferation were identified as prevalent sets in rhizome tip, of them, several genes were functionally involved in tiller initiation and elongation. And a set of genes were differentially regulated in the rhizome tip relative to shoot tip, the predominant repressed genes are involved in photosynthesis, while genes related to phytohormone and the gene families with redundancy function were obviously differentially regulated. Several cis-regulatory elements, including CGACG, GCCCORE, GAGAC and a Myb Core, were highly enriched in rhizome tip or internode, and two cis-elements such as RY repeat and TAAAG, which implicated in the ABA signaling pathway, were found overrepresented in the rhizome tip in comparison with shoot tip. A few rhizome-specific expressed genes were co-localized on the rhizome-related QTLs regions, indicating these genes may be good functional candidates for the rhizome related gene cloning. The whole genome profiling of oryza longistaminata indicated that a very complex gene regulatory network underlies rhizome development and growth, and there might be an overlapping regulatory mechanism in the establishment of rhizome and tiller. Phytohormone such as IAA and GA are involved in the signaling pathway in determining rhizome. Several cis-elements enriched in rhizome and the identified rhizome-specific genes co-localized on the rhizome-related QTL intervals provide a base for further dissection of the molecular mechanism of rhizomatousness
Project description:Cellularization is a key event during the development of the endosperm. Our understanding of the developmental regulation of cellularization has been limited for plants other than Arabidopsis. We found that the activation of OsbZIP76 coincided with the initiation of cellularization of rice. Either knockdown or knockout of OsbZIP76 led to precocious cellularization. Many genes involved in endosperm development or starch biosynthesis were prematurely activated in the caryopsis at two days after fertilization. The results implied that OsbZIP76 is involved in the regulation of cellularization in rice. As a putative transcription factor, OsbZIP76 alone lacked transcriptional activation activity. However, it was able to interact with OsNF-YB9 and OsNF-YB1, two nuclear factor Y (NF-Y) family transcription factors, both in yeast and in planta. OsbZIP76 and OsNF-YB9 showed similar endosperm-preferential expression patterns and the transiently expressed proteins were colocalized in the epidermal cells of tobacco. As with osnf-yb1 mutants, the osbzip76 mutants showed reduced seed size and reduced apparent amylose content of the seeds. We also confirmed that OsbZIP76 is an imprinted gene in rice, the expression of which depended on the genetic background. Our results suggested that OsbZIP76 is an endosperm-expressed imprinted gene to regulate development of the endosperm in rice.
Project description:Cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) is frequently exposed to multiple stresses, including Schizotetranychus oryzae mite infestation. Rice domestication has narrowed the genetic diversity of the species, leading to a wide susceptibility. This work aimed to observe the response of two wild rice species (Oryza barthii and O. glaberrima) and two O. sativa genotypes (cv. Nipponbare and f. spontanea) to S. oryzae infestation. Surprisingly, leaf damage, histochemistry, chlorophyll concentration and fluorescence showed that the wild species present higher level of leaf damage, increased accumulation of H2O2 and lower photosynthetic capacity when compared to O. sativa genotypes under infested conditions. Infestation decreased tiller number, except in Nipponbare. Infestation also caused the death of wild plants during the reproductive stage. While infestation did not affect the weight of 1,000 grains in both O. sativa genotypes, the number of panicles per plant was affected only in f. spontanea, and the percentage of full seeds per panicle and seed length were increased only in Nipponbare. Using proteomic analysis, we identified 195 differentially abundant proteins when comparing susceptible (O. barthii) and tolerant (Nipponbare) genotypes under control and infested conditions. O. barthii has a less abundant antioxidant arsenal and is unable to modulate proteins involved with general metabolism and energy production under infested condition. Nipponbare presents high abundance of detoxification-related proteins, general metabolic processes and energy production, suggesting that, under infested condition, the primary metabolism is maintained more active compared to O. barthii. Also, under infested conditions, Nipponbare presents higher levels of proline and a greater abundance of defense-related proteins, such as osmotin, ricin B-like lectin, and protease inhibitors. These differentially abundant proteins can be used as biotechnological tools in breeding programs aiming increased tolerance to mite infestation.
Project description:To investigate the root system, three indoor cultivation systems, including water agar, deep water, and vermiculite-based hydroponics, are commonly used. However, their effects on the root development of rice (Oryza sativa L.) remain unknown. In this study, we assessed the effect of these indoor cultivation systems on the maximum root length (MRL) and examined the changes in phosphorylated protein profiles by LC-MS/MS.