Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 116, Issue 15, Pages 7549-7558Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1817675116
Keywords
AGO2; epigenetics; HXK1; ROS; PCD
Categories
Funding
- Genetically Modified Breeding Major Projects [2016ZX08001-004]
- National Basic Research Program of China [2016YFD0100405]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [31871231, 31371225, 30800596]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Proteins of the ARGONAUTE (AGO) family function in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression. Although the rice (Oryza sativa) genome encodes 19 predicted AGO proteins, few of their functions have thus far been characterized. Here, we show that the AGO protein OsAGO2 regulates anther development in rice. OsAGO2 was highly expressed in anthers. Knockdown of OsAGO2 led to the overaccumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and abnormal anther development, causing premature initiation of tapetal programmed cell death (PCD) and pollen abortion. The expression level of Hexokinase 1 (OsHXK1) increased significantly, and the methylation levels of its promoter decreased, in plants with knocked-down OsAGO2 expression. Overexpression of OsHXK1 also resulted in the overaccumulation of ROS, premature initiation of PCD, and pollen abortion. Moreover, knockdown of OsHXK1 restored pollen fertility in OsAGO2 knockdown plants. Chromatin im-munoprecipitation assays demonstrated that OsAGO2 binds directly to the OsHXK1 promoter region, suggesting that OsHXK1 is a target gene of OsAGO2. These results indicate that OsHXK1 controls the appropriate production of ROS and the proper timing of tapetal PCD and is directly regulated by OsAGO2 through epigenetic regulation.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available