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An Arabidopsis F-box protein regulates tapetum degeneration and pollen maturation during anther development

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Abstract

The Arabidopsis anther has a bilateral symmetry with four lobes, each consisting of four distinct layers of somatic cells from the outer to inner side: epidermis, endothecium, middle layer and tapetum. The tapetum is a layer of cells comprising the inner surface of the pollen wall. It plays an important role in anther development by providing enzymes, materials and nutrients required for pollen maturation. Genes and molecular mechanisms underlying tapetum formation and pollen wall biosynthesis have been studied in Arabidopsis. However, tapetum degeneration and anther dehiscence have not been well characterized at the molecular level. Here, we report that an Arabidopsis gene, designated reduced male fertility (RMF), regulates degeneration of tapetum and middle layer during anther development. The Arabidopsis dominant mutant rmf-1D overexpressing the RMF gene exhibited pleiotropic phenotypes, including dwarfed growth with small, dark-green leaves and low male fertility. Tapetum development and subsequent degeneration were impaired in the mutant. Accordingly, pollen maturation was disturbed, reducing the male fertility. In contrast, tapetum degeneration was somewhat accelerated in the RMF RNAi plants. The RMF gene was expressed predominantly in the anther, particularly in the pollen grains. Notably, the RMF protein contains an F-box motif and is localized to the nucleus. It physically interacts with the Arabidopsis-Skp1-like1 protein via the F-box motif. These observations indicate that the RMF gene encodes an F-box protein functioning in tapetum degeneration during anther development.

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Abbreviations

UPS:

Ubiquitin proteasome system

RMF:

Reduced male fertility

ASK1:

Arabidopsis-Skp1-like1

RNAi:

RNA interference

SCF:

Skp1-Cul1-F-box complex

PCD:

Programmed cell death

TAIL-PCR:

Thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR

RT-qPCR:

Quantitative real-time RT-PCR

SEM:

Scanning electron microscope

TEM:

Transmission electron microscope

CaMV:

Cauliflower mosaic virus

GFP:

Green fluorescence protein

MS:

Murashige and Skoog

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Acknowledgments

We thank the National Instrumentation Center for Environmental Management (NICEM), College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Seoul National University for electron microscopic analysis of plant materials. This work was supported by the Brain Korea 21, Biogreen 21 (20080401034001) and National Research Laboratory Programs, and by grants from the Plant Signaling Network Research Center (2010-0001453), the National Research Foundation of Korea (2007-03415 and 20090087317) and the Agricultural R&D Promotion Center (309017-5), Korea Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Signaling Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-742, Korea

    Ok-Kyoung Kim, Jae-Hoon Jung & Chung-Mo Park

  2. Plant Genomics and Breeding Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-742, Korea

    Chung-Mo Park

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  1. Ok-Kyoung Kim
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  2. Jae-Hoon Jung
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Correspondence to Chung-Mo Park.

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O.-K. Kim and J.-H. Jung contributed equally to this work.

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Kim, OK., Jung, JH. & Park, CM. An Arabidopsis F-box protein regulates tapetum degeneration and pollen maturation during anther development. Planta 232, 353–366 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-010-1178-x

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