Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Alteration of floral organ identity in rice through ectopic expression of OsMADS16

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Planta Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We used a transgenic approach and yeast two-hybrid experiments to study the role of the rice (Oryza sativa L.) B-function MADS-box gene, OsMADS16. Transgenic rice plants were generated that ectopically expressed OsMADS16 under the control of the maize (Zea mays L.) ubiquitin1 promoter. Microscopic observations revealed that the innermost-whorl carpels had been replaced by stamen-like organs, which resembled the flowers of the previously described Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. mutation superman as well as those ectopically expressing the AP3 gene. These results indicate that expression of OsMADS16 in the innermost whorl induces stamen development. Occasionally, carpels had completely disappeared. In addition, ectopic expression of OsMADS16 enhanced expression of OsMADS4, another B-function gene, causing superman phenotypes. In the yeast two-hybrid system, OsMADS16 did not form a homodimer but, rather, the protein interacted with OsMADS4. OsMADS16 also interacted with OsMADS6 and OSMADS8, both of which are homologous to SEPALLATA proteins required for the proper function of class-B and class-C genes in Arabidopsis. Based on the gene expression pattern and our yeast two-hybrid data, we discuss a quartet model of MADS-domain protein interactions in the lodicule and stamen whorls of rice florets.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1A–C.
Fig. 2A–H.
Fig. 3A–L.
Fig. 4.

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

RT–PCR:

reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction

References

  • Ambrose BA, Lerner DR, Ciceri P, Padilla CM, Yanofsky MF Schmidt RJ (2000) Molecular and genetic analyses of the silky1 gene reveal conservation in floral organ specification between eudicots and monocots. Mol Cell 5:569–579

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chung Y-Y, Kim S-R, Kang H-G, Noh YS, Park MC, Finkel D, An G (1995) Characterization of two rice MADS box genes homologous to GLOBOSA. Plant Sci 109:49–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coen ES, Meyerowitz EM (1991) The war of the whorls: genetic interactions controlling flower development. Nature 353:31–37

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Drews GN, Bowman JL, Meyerowitz EM (1991) Negative regulation of the Arabidopsis homeotic gene AGAMOUS by the APETALA2 product. Cell 65:991–1002

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Egea-Cortines M, Saedler H, Sommer H (1999) Ternary complex formation between the MADS-box proteins SQUAMOSA, DEFICIENS and GLOBOSA is involved in the control of floral architecture in Antirrhinum majus. EMBO J 18:5370–5379

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gietz D, St Jean A, Woods RA, Schiestl RH (1992) Improved method for high efficiency transformation of intact yeast cells. Nucleic Acids Res 20:1425

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goto K, Meyerowitz EM (1994) Function and regulation of the Arabidopsis floral homeotic gene PISTILLATA. Genes Dev 8:1548–1560

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gutierrez-Cortines ME, Davies B (2000) Beyond the ABCs: ternary complex formation in the control of floral organ identity. Trends Plant Sci 5:471–476

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Honma T, Goto K (2001) Complexes of MADS-box proteins are sufficient to convert leaves into floral organs. Nature 409:525–529

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsu H-F, Yang C-H (2002) An orchid (Oncidium Gower Ramsey) AP3-like MADS gene regulates floral formation and initiation. Plant Cell Physiol 43:1198–1209

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jack T (2001) Relearning our ABCs: new twists on an old model. Trends Plant Sci 7:310–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jack T, Fox GL, Meyerowitz EM (1994) Arabidopsis homeotic gene APETALLA3 ectopic expression: transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation determine floral organ identity. Cell 67:703–716

    Google Scholar 

  • Jofuku KD, den Boer BGW, van Montagu M, Okamuro JK (1994) Control of Arabidopsis flower and seed development by the homeotic gene APETALA2. Plant Cell 6:1211–1225

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kang H-G, Jeon J-S, Lee S, An G (1998) Identification of class B and class C floral organ identity genes from rice plants. Plant Mol Biol 38:1021–1029

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kyozuka J, Kobayashi T, Morita M, Shimamoto K (2000) Spatially and temporally regulated expression of rice MADS box genes with similarity to Arabidopsis class A, B and C genes. Plant Cell Physiol 41:710–718

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lee S, Jeon J-S, Jung K-H, An G (1999) Binary vectors for efficient transformation of rice. J Plant Biol 42:310–316

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ma H (1994) The unfolding drama of flower development: recent results from genetic and molecular analyses. Genes Dev 8:745–756

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ma H, DePamphilis C (2000) The ABCs of floral evolution. Cell 101:5–8

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mandel MA, Yanofsky MF (1995) A gene triggering flower formation in Arabidopsis. Nature 377:522–524

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller JH (1972) Experiments in molecular genetics. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York

  • Moon Y-H, Jung J-Y, Kang H-G, An G (1999A) Identification of a rice APETALA3 homologue by yeast two-hybrid screening. Plant Mol Biol 40:167–177

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moon Y-H, Kang H-G, Jung J-Y, Jeon J-S, Sung S-K, An G (1999B) Determination of the motif responsible for interaction between the rice APTELA1/AGAMOUS-LIKE9 family proteins using a yeast two-hybrid system. Plant Physiol 120:1193–1203

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Munster T, Wingen LU, Faigl W, Werth S, Saedler H, Theissen G (2001) Characterization of three GLOBOSA-like MADS-box genes from maize: evidence for ancient paralogy in one class of floral homeotic B-function genes of grasses. Gene 262:1–13

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nagasawa N, Miyoshi M, Sano Y, Satoh H, Hirano H, Sakai H, Nagato Y (2003) SUPERWOMAN1 and DROOPING LEAF genes control floral organ identity in rice. Development 130:705–718

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Riechmann JL, Krizek AB, Meyerowitz EM (1996) Dimerization specificity of Arabidopsis MADS domain homeotic proteins APETALA1, APETALA3, PISTILLATA, and AGAMOUS. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93:4793–4798

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rounsley SD, Ditta GS, Yanofsky MF (1995) Diverse roles for MADS box genes in Arabidopsis development. Plant Cell 7:1259–1269

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt RJ, Ambrose BA (1998) The blooming of grass flower development. Curr Opin Plant Biol 1:60–67

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz-Sommer Z, Hue I, Huijser P, Flor PJ, Hansen R, Tetens F, Lonning WE, Saedler H, Sommer H (1992) Characterization of the Antirrhinum floral homeotic MADS-box gene deficiens: evidence for DNA binding and autoregulation of its persistent expression throughout flower development. EMBO J 11:251–263

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shore P, Sharrocks AD (1995) The MADS-box family of transcription factors. Eur J Biochem 229:1–13

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sundstrom J, Engstrom P (2002) Conifer reproductive development involves B-type MADS-box genes with distinct and different activities in male organ primordia. Plant J 31:161–169

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Theissen G (2001) Development of floral organ identity: stories from the MADS house. Curr Opin Plant Biol 4:75–85

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Theissen G, Saedler H (2001) Floral quartets. Nature 409:469–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsuchimoto S, Mayama T, van der Krol A, Ohtsubo E (2000) The whorl-specific action of a petunia class B floral homeotic gene. Genes Cells 5:89–99

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tzeng TY, Yang CH (2001) A MADS box gene from lily (Lilium longiflorum) is sufficient to generate dominant negative mutation by interacting with PISTILLATA (PI) in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell Physiol 42:1156–1168

    Google Scholar 

  • van der Krol AR, Brunelle A, Tsuchimoto S, Chua NH (1993) Functional analysis of petunia floral homeotic MADS box gene pMADS1. Genes Dev 7:1214–1228

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weigel D, Meyerowitz EM (1994) The ABCs of floral homeotic genes. Cell 78:203–209

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yang Y, Fannig L, Jack T (2003A) The K domain mediates heterodimerization of the Arabidopsis floral organ identity proteins, APETALLA3 and PISTILLA. Plant J 33:47–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang Y, Xiang H, Jack T (2003B) pistillata-5, an Arabidopsis B class mutant with strong defect in petal but not in stamen development. Plant J 33:177–188

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yao J-L, Dong Y-H, Morris BA (2001) Parthenocarpic apple fruit production conferred by transposon insertion mutations in a MADS-box transcription factor. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98:1306–1311

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgement

We thank Priscilla Licht for critical reading of the manuscript and Gi-Hwan Yi for providing the Dongjin seeds. This work was supported, in part, by grants from the NRL program, Korea Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP); from the Crop Functional Genomic Center, the 21 Century Frontier Program; from the Biogreen 21 program, Rural Development Administration; from SRC for Plant Molecular Genetics and Breeding Research, Korea Science and Engineering Program; and from the BK21 program, Ministry of Education.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics, Division of Molecular and Life Sciences, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 790-784, Pohang, Korea

    Sichul Lee, Kyungsook An & Gynheung An

  2. Plant Metabolism Research Center & Graduate School of Biotechnology, Kyung Hee University, 449-701, Kyeongi, Korea

    Jong-Seong Jeon

  3. Department of Molecular Biology, Pusan National University, 690-735, Busan, Korea

    Yong-Hwan Moon

  4. Graduate School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Korea University, 136-701, Seoul, Korea

    Sanghee Lee & Yong-Yoon Chung

Authors
  1. Sichul Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jong-Seong Jeon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kyungsook An
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yong-Hwan Moon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Sanghee Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Yong-Yoon Chung
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Gynheung An
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gynheung An.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lee, S., Jeon, JS., An, K. et al. Alteration of floral organ identity in rice through ectopic expression of OsMADS16 . Planta 217, 904–911 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-003-1066-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-003-1066-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation