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Brassinosteroids (BRs) are involved in many developmental processes and regulate many subsets of downstream genes throughout the plant kingdom. However, little is known about the BR signal transduction and response network in monocots. To identify novel BR-related genes in rice (Oryza sativa), we monitored the transcriptomic response of the brassinosteroid deficient1 (brd1) mutant, with a defective BR biosynthetic gene, to brassinolide treatment. Here, we describe a novel BR-induced rice gene BRASSINOSTEROID UPREGULATED1 (BU1), encoding a helix-loop-helix protein. Rice plants overexpressing BU1 (BU1:OX) showed enhanced bending of the lamina joint, increased grain size, and resistance to brassinazole, an inhibitor of BR biosynthesis. In contrast to BU1:OX, RNAi plants designed to repress both BU1 and its homologs displayed erect leaves. In addition, compared to the wild type, the induction of BU1 by exogenous brassinolide did not require de novo protein synthesis and it was weaker in a BR receptor mutant OsbriI (Oryza sativa brassinosteroid insensitive1, d61) and a rice G protein alpha subunit (RGA1) mutant d1. These results indicate that BU1 protein is a positive regulator of BR response: it controls bending of the lamina joint in rice and it is a novel primary response gene that participates in two BR signaling pathways through OsBRI1 and RGA1. Furthermore, expression analyses showed that BU1 is expressed in several organs including lamina joint, phloem, and epithelial cells in embryos. These results indicate that BU1 may participate in some other unknown processes modulated by BR in rice.

Item does not contain fulltext Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) SUPERMAN (SUP) plays a role in establishing a boundary between whorls 3 and 4 of flowers and in ovule development. We characterized a Petunia hybrida (petunia) homolog of SUP, designated PhSUP1, to compare with SUP. Genomic DNA of the PhSUP1 partially restored the stamen number and ovule development phenotypes of the Arabidopsis sup mutant. Two P. hybrida lines of transposon (dTph1) insertion mutants of PhSUP1 exhibited increased stamen number at the cost of normal carpel development, and ovule development was defective owing to aberrant growth of the integument. Unlike Arabidopsis sup mutants, phsup1 mutants also showed extra tissues connecting stamens, a petal tube and an ovary, and aberrancies in the development of anther and placenta. PhSUP1 transcripts occurred in the basal region of wild-type flowers around developing organ primordia in whorls 2 and 3 as well as in the funiculus of the ovule, concave regions of the placenta, and interthecal regions of developing anthers. Overexpression of PhSUP1 in P. hybrida resulted in size reduction of petals, leaves, and inflorescence stems. The shortening of inflorescence stems and petal tubes was primarily attributable to suppression of cell elongation, whereas a decrease in cell number was mainly responsible for the size reduction of petal limbs.

A globulin fraction prepared from rice embryos contained polypeptides or polypeptide groups of 49 kDa (designated REG1), 46 kDa (designated REG2), about 35 kDa, 32 kDa and 25 kDa. The amino-terminal sequences of REG1 and the major polypeptide in the 35-kDa group were identical, suggesting that the REG1 polypeptide undergoes partial proteolytic processing that removes a carboxy-terminal region. A cDNA clone, designated pcREG2, encoding REG2 was isolated, and its nucleotide sequence was determined. The deduced amino acid sequence of REG2 was found to be 68% identical to that of the maize GLB2 globulin. Reg2 mRNA was present at high levels during embryo development for up to 14 days after flowering (DAF). Lower levels were found 20 DAF when the maturation of embryos was almost completed, and at the dry mature stage. Reg2 mRNA almost disappeared upon imbibition of isolated dry mature embryos but it was re-induced at a low level by further treatment with ABA. The expression of Reg2 was not induced by ABA in suspension-cultured cells, unlike that of Osem, one of the late embryogenesis abundant protein (LEA) genes.

A seed-specific transcriptional regulator, VP1, is required for the induction of ABA-regulated genes that include Lea (late embryogenesis abundant protein) genes. Although the induction of one rice Lea gene, Osem, by ABA is normally restricted to seed tissues, we found that the expression was strongly induced by ABA in the Oc line of rice suspension-cultured cells. Since this observation suggested that rice VP1 (OSVP1) protein or a functionally similar protein might be expressed in the cultured cells, we analyzed the expression of Osvp1 in these cells at both the mRNA and the protein level, we detected Osvp1 mRNA and OSVP1 protein in the cultured cells at levels similar to or higher than those in developing embryos. In the cultured cells, neither the level of total cellular OSVP1 nor that of nuclear OSVP1 protein was affected by ABA. Based on the results, the mechanism for the transcriptional regulation of VP1-dependent ABA-inducible genes is discussed.