Overexpression of Inhibits the Growth of Rice and Causes Spontaneous Cell Death.

The Mediator complex transduces information from the DNA-bound transcription factors to the RNA polymerase II transcriptional machinery. Research on plant Mediator subunits has primarily been performed in Arabidopsis, while very few of them have been functionally characterized in rice. In this study, the rice Mediator subunit 16, was examined. encodes a putative protein of 1301 amino acids, which is longer than the version previously reported. It was expressed in various rice organs and localized to the nucleus. The knockout of resulted in rice seedling lethality. Its overexpression led to the retardation of rice growth, low yield, and spontaneous cell death in the leaf blade and sheath. RNA sequencing suggested that the overexpression of altered the expression of a large number of genes. Among them, the upregulation of some defense-related genes was verified. can regulate the expression of a wealth of genes, and alterations in its expression have a profound impact on plant growth, development, and defense responses in rice.