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Du1, encoding a novel Prp1 protein, regulates starch biosynthesis through affecting the splicing of Wx b pre-mRNAs in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

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Abstract

Starch is the major component of cereal grains. In rice, starch properties determine the eating and cooking quality. The dull endosperm of rice grains is a classical morphological and agronomical trait that has long been exploited for breeding and genetics study. To understand the molecular mechanism that regulates the starch biosynthesis in rice grains, we characterized a classic rice mutant dull endosperm1 (du1) and isolated Du1 through a map-based cloning approach. Du1, encoding a member of pre-mRNA processing (Prp1) family, is expressed mainly in panicles. Du1 specifically affects the splicing efficiency of Wx b and regulates starch biosynthesis by mediating the expression of starch biosynthesis genes. Analysis of du1wx shows that Du1 acts upstream of Wx b. These results strongly suggest that Du1 may function as a regulator of the starch biosynthesis by affecting the splicing of Wx b and the expression of other genes involved in the rice starch biosynthetic pathways.

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Abbreviations

AC:

Amylose content

AGPase:

ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase

ASV:

Alkali spreading values

BAC:

Bacterial artificial chromosome

CAPS:

Cleaved amplified polymorphic sequences

DAP:

Days after pollinating

DBE:

Starch debraching enzyme

du1 :

Dull endosperm1

Du1L:

Du1-like

GBSS:

Granule-bound starch synthase

GC:

Gel consistency

Prp:

Pre-mRNA processing

QTL:

Quantitative trait locus

SBE:

Starch branching enzyme

SR:

Serine–arginine-rich

SSS:

Soluble starch synthase

STS:

Sequence tagged site

TPR:

Tetratric peptide repeats

UTR:

Untranslated region

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Acknowledgements

We thank Zhixi Tian for the assistance in the analyses of starch properties and his critical comments on the manuscript, Kyushu University for providing the original du1 seeds, Bin Han (National Center for Gene Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences) for providing BAC and cDNA clones. This work was supported by grants from the State Key Basic Research Program (2005CB1208), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30530470, 30425034), Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (Y304442).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics and National Center for Plant Gene Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Dali Zeng, Yonghong Wang, Xinfang Liu & Jiayang Li

  2. State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, China National Rice Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Hangzhou, 31006, China

    Dali Zeng, Meixian Yan & Qian Qian

  3. Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Dali Zeng

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  1. Dali Zeng
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  2. Meixian Yan
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  3. Yonghong Wang
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  4. Xinfang Liu
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  5. Qian Qian
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  6. Jiayang Li
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Correspondence to Qian Qian or Jiayang Li.

Electronic supplementary material

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11103_2007_9186_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Structural features of the Du1 gene. Numbers at left refer to the position of nucleotides. Red stands for the mutation in du1, blue for polymorphic bases between indica and japonica subspecies, pink for the N terminal domain, and green or orange for the TPR motifs (TIF 2,497 KB)

Alignment of deduced amino acid sequences of Du1 and Du1L. The identical amino acid was marked (TIF 976 KB)

Comparison of the grain ASV between du1 and the wild type XS11 or the complemented transgenic line ZD6-3 (TIF 2,163 KB)

ESM4 (DOC 144 KB)

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Zeng, D., Yan, M., Wang, Y. et al. Du1, encoding a novel Prp1 protein, regulates starch biosynthesis through affecting the splicing of Wx b pre-mRNAs in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Plant Mol Biol 65, 501–509 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-007-9186-3

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