Abstract
Pumilio RNA-binding proteins participate in messenger RNA (mRNA) degradation and translational repression, but their roles in plant development are largely unclear. Here, we show that Arabidopsis PUMILIO PROTEIN24 (APUM24), an atypical Pumilio-homology domain-containing protein, plays an important part in regulating seed maturation, a major stage of plant development. APUM24 is strongly expressed in maturing seeds. Reducing APUM24 expression resulted in abnormal seed maturation, wrinkled seeds, and lower seed oil contents, and APUM24 knockdown resulted in lower levels of WRINKLED 1 (WRI1), a key transcription factor controlling seed oil accumulation, and lower expression of WRI1 target genes. APUM24 reduces the mRNA stability of BTB/POZMATH (BPM) family genes, thus decreasing BPM protein levels. BPM is responsible for the 26S proteasome-mediated degradation of WRI1 and has important functions in plant growth and development. The 3′ untranslated regions of BPM family genes contain putative Pumilio response elements (PREs), which are bound by APUM24. Reduced BPM or increased WRI1 expression rescued the deficient seed maturation of apum24-2 knockdown mutants, and APUM24 overexpression resulted in increased seed size and weight. Therefore, APUM24 is crucial to seed maturation through its action as a positive regulator fine-tuning the BPM-WRI1 module, making APUM24 a promising target for breeding strategies to increase crop yields.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1240-1259 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Journal of Integrative Plant Biology |
Volume | 63 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Funding
We thank Professor Hanjo A. Hellmann from the Washington State University for providing the artificial microRNA vector, Professor Andrzej Wierzbicki from the University of Michigan for technical support for the RIP experiment, and the ABRC for kindly providing seeds used in this study. This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31870301, 31370350 for S.Z., and 31871222 for C.Y.), the Guangdong Province Universities and Colleges Pearl River Scholar Funded Scheme (2016 for S.Z.), and the award from the Program for Changjiang Scholars (2017 for C.Y.). We thank Professor Hanjo A. Hellmann from the Washington State University for providing the artificial microRNA vector, Professor Andrzej Wierzbicki from the University of Michigan for technical support for the RIP experiment, and the ABRC for kindly providing seeds used in this study. This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31870301, 31370350 for S.Z., and 31871222 for C.Y.), the Guangdong Province Universities and Colleges Pearl River Scholar Funded Scheme (2016 for S.Z.), and the award from the Program for Changjiang Scholars (2017 for C.Y.).
Funders | Funder number |
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Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University | |
University of Michigan Hospital | |
Washington State University | |
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) | 31370350, 31871222, 31870301 |
Advanced Biometric Research Center, Seoul National University | |
Guangdong Province Higher Vocational Colleges and Schools Pearl River Scholar Funded Scheme |
Keywords
- APUM24
- Arabidopsis
- BPM
- RNA-binding protein
- WRI1
- seed maturation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
- Plant Science