Project description:Fertile pollen is critical for the survival, fitness and dispersal of flowering plants, and directly contributes to crop productivity. Extensive mutational screening studies have been carried out to dissect the genetic regulatory network determining pollen fertility, but we still lack fundamental knowledge about whether and how pollen fertility is controlled in natural populations. We used a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to show that ZmGEN1A and ZmMSH7, two DNA repair-related genes, confer natural variation in maize pollen fertility. Mutants defective in both genes exhibited abnormalities in meiotic or post-meiotic DNA repair, leading to reduced pollen fertility. More importantly, ZmMSH7 underwent selection during maize domestication, and its disruption resulted in a substantial increase in grain yield and protein content for both inbred and hybrid. Overall, our study describes the first systematic examination of natural genetic effects on pollen fertility in plants, providing valuable genetic resources for optimizing male fertility. Moreover, ZmMSH7 may be a potential candidate for simultaneous improvement of grain yield and quality.
Project description:Meiotic drivers subvert Mendelian expectations by manipulating reproductive development to bias their own transmission. Chromosomal drive typically functions in asymmetric female meiosis, while gene drive is normally postmeiotic and typically found in males. Cryptic drive is thought to be pervasive and can be unleashed following hybridization with a naïve genome, resulting in sterility and hybrid incompatibility. Using single molecule and single pollen genome sequencing, we describe an instance of gene drive in hybrids between maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) and teosinte mexicana (Zea mays ssp. mexicana), that depends on RNA interference (RNAi) in the male germline. Multiple hairpin-derived small RNA from mexicana target a novel domestication gene, Teosinte Drive Responder, that is required for pollen fertility and has undergone selection for immunity to RNAi. Introgression of mexicana into early cultivated maize is thought to have been critical to its geographical dispersal throughout the Americas. A survey of maize landraces and sympatric populations of teosinte mexicana reveals allelic bias at genes required for RNAi on at least 4 chromosomes that are also subject to gene drive in pollen from synthetic hybrids. Teosinte Pollen Drive likely played a major role in maize domestication, and offers an explanation for the widespread abundance of hairpin-encoded and other endogenous small RNA in the germlines of plants and animals.
Project description:Maize anthers, the male reproductive floral organs, express two classes of phased, small interfering RNAs (phasiRNAs). RNA profiling from ten sequential cohorts of staged maize anthers plus mature pollen revealed that 21-nt phased siRNAs (21-phasiRNAs) from 463 loci appear abruptly after germinal and initial somatic cell fate specification and then diminish, while 24-nt phased siRNAs (24-phasiRNAs) from 176 loci coordinately accumulate during meiosis and persist as haploid gametophytes differentiate into pollen. RNA sequencing of anther developmental mutants, together with in situ RNA hybridization detection of phasiRNA biogenesis factors, demonstrated that 21-phasiRNAs and 24-phasiRNAs are independently regulated. Furthermore, 21-phasiRNAs require epidermal cells while 24-phasiRNAs require functional tapetal cells. Maize phasiRNAs and mammalian PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) illustrate convergent evolution of small RNAs to support male reproduction.
Project description:Maize anthers, the male reproductive floral organs, express two classes of phased, small interfering RNAs (phasiRNAs). RNA profiling from ten sequential cohorts of staged maize anthers plus mature pollen revealed that 21-nt phased siRNAs (21-phasiRNAs) from 463 loci appear abruptly after germinal and initial somatic cell fate specification and then diminish, while 24-nt phased siRNAs (24-phasiRNAs) from 176 loci coordinately accumulate during meiosis and persist as haploid gametophytes differentiate into pollen. RNA sequencing of anther developmental mutants, together with in situ RNA hybridization detection of phasiRNA biogenesis factors, demonstrated that 21-phasiRNAs and 24-phasiRNAs are independently regulated. Furthermore, 21-phasiRNAs require epidermal cells while 24-phasiRNAs require functional tapetal cells. Maize phasiRNAs and mammalian PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) illustrate convergent evolution of small RNAs to support male reproduction.