The Rice VCS1 is Identified As a Molecular Tool to Mark and Visualize the Vegetative Cell of Pollen

Overview

Journal Plant Signal Behav

Specialty Biology

Date 2021 May 13

PMID 33982648

Authors

Yanli Wang

Tai Wang

Lingtong Liu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Cell-type-specific markers are valuable tools to reveal developmental processes underlying cell differentiation during plant reproduction. Here we report the pollen vegetative cell marker gene ) of rice was expressed specifically in late pollen and was predicted to encode a small FAF domain-containing protein of 205 amino acid residues (aa). The expression of reporter fusion proteins showed that VCS1 was exclusively targeted to the vegetative nucleus of pollen. Upon pollen germination, VCS1 lost vegetative nucleus localization, and appeared diffused in the vegetative cytoplasm of pollen grain but not in the pollen tube. T-DNA insertional mutation which disrupted the carboxyl-terminal 21 aa of VCS1 did not affect plant vegetative growth and pollen development, while destruction of by CRISPR/Cas9 only moderately affect pollen viability. VCS1 is evolutionally conserved in monocots but appeared absent in dicotyledons. This study reveals a molecular tool for visualizing the vegetative cell of rice and possible other monocots, which has potential values in the genetic engineering of male-sterile lines.

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