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Plant Physiology Preview Published on January 18, 2008; 10.1104/pp.107.114108
Received November 27, 2007 The maize Viviparous8 locus, encoding a putative AMP1-like peptidase, regulates ABA accumulation and coordinates embryo and endosperm development
Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Horticultural Sciences Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi 464–8601, Japan; RIKEN Plant Science Center, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230–0045, Japan * Corresponding author; email: masaharu{at} ufl.edu.
We describe a mutant of Zea Mays isolated from a W22 inbred transposon population, widow's peak mutant 1 (wpk1), with an altered pattern of anthocyanin synthesis and aleurone cell differentiation in endosperm. In addition, a failure of the developing mutant embryo to form leaf initials is associated with decreased expression of a subset of meristem regulatory genes that includes Abphyl1 and Td1. We show that the viviparous8 (vp8) mutant has a similar pleiotropic phenotype in the W22 inbred background in contrast to the viviparous embryo phenotype exhibited in the standard genetic background, and we confirmed that wpk1 is allelic to vp8. Further genetic analysis revealed that the standard vp8 stock contains an unlinked, partially dominant suppressor of the vp8 mutation that is not present in W22. Consistent with the early onset viviparous phenotype of vp8, expression of several embryonic regulators, including LEC1/B3 domain transcription factors, was reduced in the mutant embryo. Moreover, reduced ABA content of vp8/wpk1 embryos was correlated with altered regulation of ABA biosynthesis as well as ABA catabolic pathways. ABA biosynthetic gene Vp14 was down-regulated in the non-suppressed background; whereas, the ZmABA8'oxA1a ABA 8'-hydroxylase gene was strongly up-regulated in both genetic backgrounds. Molecular analysis revealed that Vp8 encodes a putative peptidase closely related to Arabidopsis AMP1. Because the Vp8 regulates meristem development as well as seed maturation processes including ABA accumulation, we propose that VP8 is required for synthesis of an unidentified signal that integrates meristem and embryo formation in seeds.
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