Overexpression of rice black-streaked dwarf virus p7-1 in Arabidopsis results in male sterility due to non-dehiscent anthers.

Rice black-streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV), a member of the genus Fijivirus in the family Reoviridae, is propagatively transmitted by the small brown planthopper (Laodelphax striatellus Fallén). RBSDV causes rice black-streaked dwarf and maize rough dwarf diseases, which lead to severe yield losses in crops in China. Although several RBSDV proteins have been studied in detail, the functions of the nonstructural protein P7-1 are still largely unknown. To investigate the role of the P7-1 protein in virus pathogenicity, transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants were generated in which the P7-1 gene was expressed under the control of the 35S promoter. The RBSDV P7-1-transgenic Arabidopsis plants (named P7-1-OE) were male sterility. Flowers and pollen from P7-1-transgenic plants were of normal size and shape, and anthers developed to the normal size but failed to dehisce. The non-dehiscent anthers observed in P7-1-OE were attributed to decreased lignin content in the anthers. Furthermore, the reactive oxygen species levels were quite low in the transgenic plants compared with the wild type. These results indicate that ectopic expression of the RBSDV P7-1 protein in A. thaliana causes male sterility, possibly through the disruption of the lignin biosynthesis and H2O2-dependent polymerization pathways.