A Silent Exonic Mutation in a Rice Integrin-α FG-GAP Repeat-Containing Gene Causes Male-Sterility by Affecting mRNA Splicing

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 21; no. 6; p. 2018
• Main Authors: Zou, Ting, Zhou, Dan, Li, Wenjie, Yuan, Guoqiang, Tao, Yang, He, Zhiyuan, Zhang, Xu, Deng, Qiming, Wang, Shiquan, Zheng, Aiping, Zhu, Jun, Liang, Yueyang, Liu, Huainian, Wang, Aijun, Wang, Lingxia, Li, Ping, Li, Shuangcheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 16.03.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: anther; Anthers; Calcium; Calcium ions; Endoplasmic reticulum; Exons; Fertility; Flowers - cytology; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Genotype & phenotype; Hypertrophy; Infertility - genetics; integrin-α fg-gap repeat-containing protein; Integrins - metabolism; male sterility; Mapping; Morphology; mRNA; Mutants; Mutation; Necrosis; Oryza - genetics; Phenotype; Phenotypes; pl1; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Pollen; Pollen - genetics; Pollen - growth & development; Pollen - metabolism; Proteins; rice (oryza sativa l.); RNA polymerase; RNA Splicing; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Sequence Analysis; Silent Mutation; Site selection; Splicing; Sterility; Transcription factors; rice (Oryza sativa L.); PL1; anther; integrin-α FG-GAP repeat-containing protein; pollen; male sterility; RNA splicing
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms21062018

Pollen development plays crucial roles in the life cycle of higher plants. Here we characterized a rice mutant with complete male-sterile phenotype, ( ). exhibited smaller anthers with arrested pollen development, absent Ubisch bodies, necrosis-like tapetal hypertrophy, and smooth anther cuticular surface. Molecular mapping revealed a synonymous mutation in the fourth exon of co-segregated with the mutant phenotype. This mutation disrupts the exon-intron splice junction in , generating aberrant mRNA species and truncated proteins. is highly expressed in the tapetal cells of developing anther, and its protein is co-localized with plasma membrane (PM) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) signal. encodes an integrin-α FG-GAP repeat-containing protein, which has seven β-sheets and putative Ca -binding motifs and is broadly conserved in terrestrial plants. Our findings therefore provide insights into both the role of integrin-α FG-GAP repeat-containing protein in rice male fertility and the influence of exonic mutation on intronic splice donor site selection.