𝑂𝑠𝐽𝐴𝑍11 regulates spikelet and seed development in rice

Mehra, Poonam; Pandey, Bipin K.; Verma, Lokesh; Prusty, Ankita; Singh, Ajit Pal; Sharma, Shivam; Malik, Naveen; Bennett, Malcolm J.; Parida, Swarup K.; Giri, Jitender; Tyagi, Akhilesh K.

Abstract

Seed size is one of the major determinants of seed weight and eventually, crop yield. As the global population is increasing beyond the capacity of current food production, enhancing seed size is a key target for crop breeders. Despite the identification of several genes and QTLs, current understanding about the molecular regulation of seed size/weight remains fragmentary. In the present study, we report novel role of a jasmonic acid (JA) signaling repressor, OsJAZ11 controlling rice seed width and weight. Transgenic rice lines overexpressing OsJAZ11 exhibited up to a 14% increase in seed width and ~30% increase in seed weight compared to wild type (WT). Constitutive expression of OsJAZ11 dramatically influenced spikelet morphogenesis leading to extra glume-like structures, open hull, and abnormal numbers of floral organs. Furthermore, overexpression lines accumulated higher JA levels in spikelets and developing seeds. Expression studies uncovered altered expression of JA biosynthesis/signaling and MADS box genes in overexpression lines compared to WT. Yeast two-hybrid and pull-down assays revealed that OsJAZ11 interacts with OsMADS29 and OsMADS68. Remarkably, expression of OsGW7, a key negative regulator of grain size, was significantly reduced in overexpression lines. We propose that OsJAZ11 participates in the regulation of seed size and spikelet development by coordinating the expression of JA-related, OsGW7 and MADS genes.

Citation

Mehra, P., Pandey, B. K., Verma, L., Prusty, A., Singh, A. P., Sharma, S., Malik, N., Bennett, M. J., Parida, S. K., Giri, J., & Tyagi, A. K. (2022). 𝑂𝑠𝐽𝐴𝑍11 regulates spikelet and seed development in rice. Plant Direct, 6(5), Article e401. https://doi.org/10.1002/pld3.401

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 20, 2022
• Online Publication Date: May 10, 2022
• Publication Date: May 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Apr 30, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 30, 2025
• Journal: Plant Direct
• Electronic ISSN: 2475-4455
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 5
• Article Number: e401
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/pld3.401
• Keywords: JASMONATE ZIM-DOMAIN, Jasmonic acid, seed weight, seed width
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/8049430
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pld3.401
• Additional Information: Received: 2022-01-17; Accepted: 2022-04-20; Published: 2022-05-10