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Functional conservation of rice OsNF-YB/YC and Arabidopsis AtNF-YB/YC proteins in the regulation of flowering time

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Abstract

Key message

Rice Os NF - YB and Os NF - YC complement the late flowering phenotype of Arabidopsis nf - yb double and nf - yc triple mutants, respectively. In addition, OsNF-YB and OsNF-YC interact with AtNF-YC and AtNF-YB, respectively.

Abstract

Plant NUCLEAR FACTOR Y (NF-Y) transcription factors play important roles in plant development and abiotic stress. In Arabidopsis thaliana, two NF-YB (AtNF-YB2 and AtNF-YB3) and five NF-YC (AtNF-YC1, AtNF-YC2, AtNF-YC3, AtNF-YC4, and AtNF-YC9) genes regulate photoperiodic flowering by interacting with other AtNF-Y subunit proteins. Three rice NF-YB (OsNF-YB8, OsNF-YB10, and OsNF-YB11) and five rice OsNF-YC (OsNF-YC1, OsNF-YC2, OsNF-YC4, OsNF-YC6, and OsNF-YC7) genes are clustered with two AtNF-YB and five AtNF-YC genes, respectively. To investigate the functional conservation of these NF-YB and NF-YC genes in rice and Arabidopsis, we analyzed the flowering phenotypes of transgenic plants overexpressing the respective OsNF-YB and OsNF-YC genes in Arabidopsis mutants. Overexpression of OsNF-YB8/10/11 and OsNF-YC2 complemented the late flowering phenotype of Arabidopsis nf-yb2 nf-yb3 and nf-yc3 nf-yc4 nf-yc9 mutants, respectively. The rescued phenotype of 35S::OsNF-YC2 nf-yc3 nf-yc4 nf-yc9 plants was attributed to the upregulation of FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) and SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS 1 (SOC1). In vitro and in planta protein–protein analyses revealed that OsNF-YB8/10/11 and OsNF-YC1/2/4/6/7 interact with AtNF-YC3/4/9 and AtNF-YB2/3, respectively. Our data indicate that some OsNF-YB and OsNF-YC genes are functional equivalents of AtNF-YB2/3 and AtNF-YC3/4/9 genes, respectively, and suggest functional conservation of Arabidopsis and rice NF-Y genes in the control of flowering time.

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Abbreviations

CO :

CONSTANS

NF-Y:

NUCLEAR FACTOR Y transcription factors

FT :

FLOWERING LOCUS T

GFP:

Green fluorescence protein

GST:

Glutathione S-transferase

HAP:

Heme-activated protein

LD:

Long-day

ORFs:

Open reading frames

SD:

Short-day

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. Ben F. Holt III for providing nf-yb2 nf-yb3 and nf-yc3 nf-yc4 nf-yc9 mutants and other mutants not used in this study. This work was supported by the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (PJ007978), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea and a Korea University Grant (to J.-K. Kim), Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2015R1D1A4A0101941 to J.H. Lee and 2014R1A1A2055796 to J.-K. Kim), and by the BK 21 program (to S.-K. Kim).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Division of Life Sciences, Korea University, Anam-dong 5 ga, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 136-701, Republic of Korea

      Yoon-Hyung Hwang, Keh Chien Lee & Jeong-Kook Kim

    2. Department of Bioresource Engineering, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 143-747, Republic of Korea

      Soon-Kap Kim & Jeong Hwan Lee

    3. Department of Genetic Engineering, Dong-A University, Busan, 604-714, Republic of Korea

      Young Soo Chung

    4. Center for Desert Agriculture, Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia

      Soon-Kap Kim

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    Communicated by J. S. Shin.

    Y.-H. Hwang and S.-K. Kim contributed equally to this work.

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    Hwang, YH., Kim, SK., Lee, K.C. et al. Functional conservation of rice OsNF-YB/YC and Arabidopsis AtNF-YB/YC proteins in the regulation of flowering time. Plant Cell Rep 35, 857–865 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-015-1927-1

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