Control of cell proliferation, endoreduplication, cell size, and cell death by the retinoblastoma-related pathway in maize endosperm
Type
ArticleAuthors
Sabelli, Paolo A.Liu, Yan
Dante, Ricardo Augusto
Lizarraga, Lucina E.
Nguyen, Hong N.
Brown, Sara W.
Klingler, John

Yu, Jingjuan
LaBrant, Evan
Layton, Tracy M.
Feldman, Max
Larkins, Brian A.
KAUST Department
Award Monitoring&Integrative ActivitiesCenter for Desert Agriculture
Desert Agriculture Initiative
Date
2013-04-22Online Publication Date
2013-04-22Print Publication Date
2013-05-07Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/562723
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The endospermof cereal grains is one of the most valuable products of modern agriculture. Cereal endosperm development comprises different phases characterized by mitotic cell proliferation, endoreduplication, the accumulation of storage compounds, and programmed cell death. Although manipulation of these processes could maximize grain yield, how they are regulated and integrated is poorly understood. We show that the Retinoblastoma-related (RBR) pathway controls key aspects of endosperm development in maize. Down-regulation of RBR1 by RNAi resulted in up-regulation of RBR3-type genes, as well as the MINICHROMOSOME MAINTENANCE 2-7 gene family and PROLIFERATING CELL NUCLEAR ANTIGEN, which encode essential DNA replication factors. Both the mitotic and endoreduplication cell cycles were stimulated. Developing transgenic endosperm contained 42-58% more cells and ~70% more DNA than wild type, whereas there was a reduction in cell and nuclear sizes. In addition, cell death was enhanced. The DNA content of mature endosperm increased 43% upon RBR1 downregulation, whereas storage protein content and kernel weight were essentially not affected. Down-regulation of both RBR1 and CYCLIN DEPENDENT KINASE A (CDKA);1 indicated that CDKA;1 is epistatic to RBR1 and controls endoreduplication through an RBR1- dependent pathway. However, the repressive activity of RBR1 on downstream targets was independent from CDKA;1, suggesting diversification of RBR1 activities. Furthermore, RBR1 negatively regulated CDK activity, suggesting the presence of a feedback loop. These results indicate that the RBR1 pathway plays a major role in regulation of different processes during maize endosperm development and suggest the presence of tissue/organlevel regulation of endosperm/seed homeostasis.PubMed ID
23610440PubMed Central ID
PMC3651506Additional Links
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3651506ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1073/pnas.1304903110
Scopus Count
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