National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology & Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Plant Biotechnol J. 2020 Sep;18(9):1897-1907. doi: 10.1111/pbi.13349. Epub 2020 Mar 26.
The endosperm-specific transcription factor Opaque2 (O2) acts as a central regulator for endosperm filling, but its functions have not been fully defined. Regular o2 mutants exhibit a non-vitreous phenotype, so we used its vitreous variety Quality Protein Maize to create EMS-mutagenesis mutants for screening o2 enhancers (oen). A mutant (oen1) restored non-vitreousness and produced a large cavity in the seed due to severely depleted endosperm filling. When oen1 was introgressed into inbred W64A with a normal O2 gene, the seeds appeared vitreous but had a shrunken crown. oen1 was determined to encode Shrunken1 (Sh1), a sucrose synthase (SUS, EC 2.4.1.13). Maize contains three SUS-encoding genes (Sh1, Sus1, and Sus2) with Sh1 contributing predominantly to the endosperm. We determined SUS activity and found a major and minor reduction in oen1 and o2, respectively. In o2;oen1-1, SUS activity was further decreased. We found all Sus gene promoters contain at least one O2 binding element that can be specifically recognized and be transactivated by O2. Sus1 and Sus2 promoters had a much stronger O2 transactivation than Sh1, consistent with their transcript reduction in o2 endosperm. Although sus1 and sus2 alone or in combination had no perceptible phenotype, either of them could dramatically enhance seed opacity and cavity in sh1, indicating that transactivation of Sus1 and Sus2 by O2 supplements SUS-mediated endosperm filling in maize. Our findings demonstrate that O2 transcriptionally regulates the metabolic source entry for protein and starch synthesis during endosperm filling.
胚乳特异性转录因子 Opaque2(O2)作为胚乳填充的中央调节因子,但它的功能尚未完全定义。常规的 o2 突变体表现出非玻璃质表型,因此我们使用其玻璃质变体优质蛋白玉米(Quality Protein Maize)来创建 EMS 诱变突变体,以筛选 o2 增强子(oen)。一个突变体(oen1)由于胚乳填充严重耗尽而恢复了非玻璃质,并在种子中产生了一个大空腔。当 oen1 被导入具有正常 O2 基因的自交系 W64A 时,种子表现出玻璃质,但冠部收缩。oen1 被确定为编码 Shrunken1(Sh1)的蔗糖合酶(SUS,EC 2.4.1.13)。玉米含有三个 SUS 编码基因(Sh1、Sus1 和 Sus2),其中 Sh1 主要贡献于胚乳。我们确定了 SUS 活性,发现 oen1 和 o2 分别有一个主要和次要的减少。在 o2;oen1-1 中,SUS 活性进一步降低。我们发现所有 Sus 基因启动子都至少包含一个 O2 结合元件,该元件可以被 O2 特异性识别并被反式激活。Sus1 和 Sus2 启动子的 O2 反式激活作用要强得多,这与它们在 o2 胚乳中的转录减少一致。尽管 sus1 和 sus2 单独或组合没有明显的表型,但它们中的任何一个都可以显著增强 sh1 的种子不透明度和空腔,表明 O2 对 Sus1 和 Sus2 的反式激活补充了 SUS 介导的玉米胚乳填充。我们的研究结果表明,O2 转录调控胚乳填充过程中蛋白质和淀粉合成的代谢源进入。