A trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase enhances anaerobic germination tolerance in rice

• Published in: Nature plants Vol. 1; no. 9; p. 15124
• Main Authors: Kretzschmar, Tobias, Pelayo, Margaret Anne F., Trijatmiko, Kurniawan R., Gabunada, Lourd Franz M., Alam, Rejbana, Jimenez, Rosario, Mendioro, Merlyn S., Slamet-Loedin, Inez H., Sreenivasulu, Nese, Bailey-Serres, Julia, Ismail, Abdelbagi M., Mackill, David J., Septiningsih, Endang M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 24.08.2015; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 38/77; 38/91; 45/22; 45/23; 631/449/1659; 631/449/1870; 631/449/2491; 631/449/2661/2147; 82/80; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Catabolism; Coleoptile; Crop production; Energy metabolism; Gene mapping; Germination; Growth kinetics; Immunological tolerance; Incentives; Life Sciences; Phosphatase; Plant Sciences; Quantitative trait loci; Rice; Seedlings; Seeds; Starch; Sucrose; Trehalose; Trehalose-6-phosphate; Trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase
• ISSN: 2055-0278; 2055-0278
• DOI: 10.1038/nplants.2015.124

Global socioeconomic developments create strong incentives for farmers to shift from transplanted to direct-seeded rice (DSR) as a means of intensification and economization 1 . Rice production must increase to ensure food security 2 and the bulk of this increase will have to be achieved through intensification of cultivation, because expansion of cultivated areas is reaching sustainable limits 3 . Anaerobic germination tolerance, which enables uniform germination and seedling establishment under submergence 4 , is a key trait for the development of tropical DSR varieties 5 , 6 . Here, we identify a trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase gene, OsTPP7 , as the genetic determinant in qAG-9-2 , a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) for anaerobic germination tolerance 7 . OsTPP7 is involved in trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P) metabolism, central to an energy sensor that determines anabolism or catabolism depending on local sucrose availability 8 , 9 . OsTPP7 activity may increase sink strength in proliferating heterotrophic tissues by indicating low sugar availability through increased T6P turnover, thus enhancing starch mobilization to drive growth kinetics of the germinating embryo and elongating coleoptile, which consequently enhances anaerobic germination tolerance. Agricultural rice production germinates seeds and establishes seedlings underwater. Now a trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P) phosphatase, OsTPP7, is shown to enhance anaerobic germination tolerance by increasing T6P turnover and thus starch mobilization.