knockdown of OsVIT2 and MIT affects iron localization in rice seed

• Published in: Rice (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 6; no. 1; p. 31
• Main Authors: Bashir, Khurram, Takahashi, Ryuichi, Akhtar, Shamim, Ishimaru, Yasuhiro, Nakanishi, Hiromi, Nishizawa, Naoko K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer-Verlag 20.11.2013; Springer New York; BioMed Central Ltd
• Subjects: Agriculture; Biomedical and Life Sciences; brown rice; copper; iron; Life Sciences; manganese; Plant Breeding/Biotechnology; Plant Ecology; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plant Sciences; seeds; Selected articles from the 10th International Symposium of Rice Functional Genomics; shoots; Short Report; transfer DNA; zinc; Mitochondrial iron transporter; Iron; Vacuolar iron transporter; Zinc; Manganese
• ISSN: 1939-8425; 1939-8433; 1939-8433
• DOI: 10.1186/1939-8433-6-31

BACKGROUND: The mechanism of iron (Fe) uptake in plants has been extensively characterized, but little is known about how Fe transport to different subcellular compartments affects Fe localization in rice seed. Here, we discuss the characterization of a rice vacuolar Fe transporter 2 (OsVIT2) T-DNA insertion line (osvit2) and report that the knockdown of OsVIT2 and mitochondrial Fe transporter (MIT) expression affects seed Fe localization. FINDINGS: osvit2 plants accumulated less Fe in their shoots when grown under normal or excess Fe conditions, while the accumulation of Fe was comparable to that in wild-type (WT) plants under Fe-deficient conditions. The accumulation of zinc, copper, and manganese also changed significantly in the shoots of osvit2 plants. The growth of osvit2 plants was also slow compared to that of WT plants. The concentration of Fe increased in osvit2 polished seeds. Previously, we reported that the expression of OsVIT2 was higher in MIT knockdown (mit-2) plants, and in this study, the accumulation of Fe in mit-2 seeds decreased significantly. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that vacuolar Fe trafficking is important for plant Fe homeostasis and distribution, especially in plants grown in the presence of excess Fe. Moreover, changes in the expression of OsVIT2 and MIT affect the concentration and localization of metals in brown rice as well as in polished rice seeds.