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ROSINA (RSI) is part of a CACTA transposable element, TamRSI, and links flower development to transposon activity

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Abstract

ROSINA (RSI) was isolated as a DNA binding factor able to bind to the CArG-box present in the promoter of the MADS-box gene DEFICIENS of Antirrhinum majus. The mosaic nature of RSI and its multi-copy presence in the A. majus genome indicated that RSI could be a part of a mobile genetic element. Here we show that RSI is a part of a CACTA transposable element system of A. majus, named TamRSI, which has evolved and is still evolving within the terminal inverted repeats (TIRs) of this CACTA transposon. Interestingly, RSI is always found in opposite orientation with respect to the transcription of a second gene present within the CACTA transposon, which encodes a putative TRANSPOSASE (TNP). This structural configuration has not yet been described for any member of the CACTA transposons superfamily. Internal deletion derivatives of the TamRSI produce aberrant RSI transcripts (RSI-ATs) that carry parts of the RSI RNA fused to parts of the TNP RNA. In addition, an intriguing seed phenotype shown by RNAi transgenic lines generated to silence RSI, relate TamRSI to epigenetic mechanisms and associate the control of flower development to transposon activity.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Z. Schwarz-Sommer for the inbred lines investigated in this project and for the A. majus X A. molle F2 DNA samples to map some of the TamRSI copies. We also thank T. Colby, C. Micali and M. Humphry for editing the manuscript. M.R was supported by the SFB project 572; Y. L. was supported by a Max-Planck Fellowship.

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  1. Yubin Li

    Present address: Waksman Institute, Rutgers University, 190 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854-8020, USA

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  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Züchtungsforschung, Carl-von-Linne’-Weg 10, 50829, Koeln, Germany

    Mario Roccaro, Hans Sommer & Heinz Saedler

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  1. Mario Roccaro
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  2. Yubin Li
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Correspondence to Mario Roccaro.

Additional information

Communicated by M.-A. Grandbastien.

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Suppl. Figure 1.

The RSI sequence is conserved within the Antirrhinum family. Genomic DNA samples from different Antirrhinum species and closely related species as well as some representative plant species were digested with EcoRI endonuclease and subjected to Southern blot hybridization with the full length RSI cDNA used as a probe at low stringent conditions. Only members of the Antirrhinum family and Misopates orontium showed multiple hybridizing bands, whereas all the other species regardless of the phylogenetic distance did not. The plant species are indicated above each lane. The left black bars indicate the DNA markers with the corresponding size values (PDF 1.48 mb)

Suppl. Figure 2.

Southern blot hybridization of segregating individual F2 plants of the lines 165E and desp-1 (A and B), and of the lines 165E and desp-2 (C) to show the polymorphic fragments detected using RSI-2 and RSI-3 flanking sequences as probes. In panels A and B, the digested genomic DNAs were hybridized with the 5’ and the 3’ flanking sequences of RSI-2 (probe 1 and probe 2) respectively. Similarly, the 5’ flanking sequence of RSI-3 (probe3) was used to detect the polymorphism between 165E and desp-2 (C). The sizes of the polymorphic bands and the restriction endonucleases used are indicated. E: line 165E; d1 and d2: two alleles of despenteado (PDF 399 kb)

Suppl. Figure 3.

Schematic representation of the partial TamRSI-2 structure in the 165E line compared to desp1. The TamRSI-2 structure carries a Tam3 insertion within the TIRs as well as a Mu-like element inserted at about 350 bp to the right CACTA TIR not present in the desp1 line. A duplicated gene indicated as “Gene A” is also observed. In the opulentiflora (opu) line an instable Tam4 insertion was also detected. This structure is not complete as indicated by the two slash lines and is not drawn in scale. The two probes derived from flanking sequences and used to detect the polymorphisms shown in supplementary Figure 2 (A and B) are also indicated (PDF 180 kb)

Suppl. Figure 4.

Detection of TamRSI-3 transposition. Genomic DNA from four pools with each pool containing fifty-six 165E plants (samples 1, 2, 3 and 4) was used together with a “positive control” represented by desp-2 (sample 5; desp-2 does not carry TamRSI-3 at the investigated locus) in a nested PCR. 5 μl PCR reaction of the last primer combination (pr9/pr11) were loaded on 0.7% agarose gel and hybridised with 5’ end flaking TamRSI-3 region, as depicted. At least two strongly hybridising products were detected. A 4.0 kb band similar to the size of the desp-2 PCR product (lane 4) and a 2 kb band (lane 1), which indicates a deletion derivative of TamRSI-3. A weaker hybridising PCR product with a size bigger than 4 kb is also detected (lane 2) (PDF 591 kb)

Suppl. Figure 5.

Southern blot hybridization to detect additional deletion variants of TamRSI. A PCR amplification performed on genomic DNA from different lines yielded several products of different length. The PCR products were size-separated on two parallel agarose gels, blotted on nylon membrane and hybridized with TNP (A) and RSI (B) specific probes, respectively. Several hybridizing bands of the same size were detected. The amplified genomic fragments of 2.8 kb correspond to the TamRSI-3 copy. Note the absence of this fragment from sample 12 for both probes corresponding to desp-2 line. Plant lines: 1: 165E; 2: Sippe 50; 3: line T-53; 4: Pallida-recurens; 5: Line 91; 6: deficiens-chloranta; 7: deficiens-globifera; 8: opulentiflora; 9: pleiocotiledona; 10: graminifolia; 11: despenteado-1; 12: despenteado-2; 13: despenteado-4; 14: cycloidea-25 (PDF 840 kb)

Suppl. Figure 6.

Seed capsule of the 165E and RNAi-1b lines. The four pores necessary for seed dispersal are fully opened (black arrows) in 165E line but not in the RNAi-1b line. The same phenotype is observed in the RNAi-1a line (PDF 960 kb)

Suppl. Table 1.

List of the primers (PDF 52.6 kb)

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Roccaro, M., Li, Y., Sommer, H. et al. ROSINA (RSI) is part of a CACTA transposable element, TamRSI, and links flower development to transposon activity. Mol Genet Genomics 278, 243–254 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-007-0245-x

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