Plant Cell BIOBASE Corporation
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Plant Cell Advance Online Publication
Published on August 3, 2007; 10.1105/tpc.107.053199

This Article
Right arrow Full Text - TPC Advance Online Pub. (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
19/8/2583    most recent
tpc.107.053199v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Nonomura, K.-I.
Right arrow Articles by Kurata, N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Nonomura, K.-I.
Right arrow Articles by Kurata, N.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Nonomura, K.-I.
Right arrow Articles by Kurata, N.

Received May 29, 2007
Returned for revision June 27, 2007
Accepted June 29, 2007

A Germ Cell–Specific Gene of the ARGONAUTE Family Is Essential for the Progression of Premeiotic Mitosis and Meiosis during Sporogenesis in Rice

Ken-Ichi Nonomura 1*, Akane Morohoshi 2, Mutsuko Nakano 2, Mitsugu Eiguchi 2, Akio Miyao 3, Hirohiko Hirochika 3, and Nori Kurata 4

1 Experimental Farm, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan; Department of Life Science, Graduate University for Advanced Studies/Sokendai, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan
2 Experimental Farm, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan
3 Department of Molecular Genetics, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8602, Japan
4 Experimental Farm, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan; Plant Genetics Laboratory, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: knonomur{at}lab.nig.ac.jp; nkurata@lab.nig.ac.jp.

The rice (Oryza sativa) genome contains 18 copies of genes of the ARGONAUTE (AGO) family. Although AGO members play important roles in RNA-mediated silencing during plant development, a family member that is specifically involved in sexual reproduction has not been identified in plants. We identified the rice AGO gene MEIOSIS ARRESTED AT LEPTOTENE1 (MEL1) from the analysis of seed-sterile mutants. In the mel1 mutant, chromosome condensation was arrested at early meiotic stages and irregularly sized, multinucleated, and vacuolated pollen mother cells (PMCs) frequently appeared in developing anthers. In addition, histone H3 lysine-9 dimethylation of pericentromeres was rarely reduced and modification of the nucleolar-organizing region was altered in mel1 mutant PMCs. The mutation also affected female germ cell development. These results indicate that the germ cell–specific rice MEL1 gene regulates the cell division of premeiotic germ cells, the proper modification of meiotic chromosomes, and the faithful progression of meiosis, probably via small RNA–mediated gene silencing, but not the initiation and establishment of germ cells themselves.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Plant Physiol.Home page
F. Borges, G. Gomes, R. Gardner, N. Moreno, S. McCormick, J. A. Feijo, and J. D. Becker
Comparative Transcriptomics of Arabidopsis Sperm Cells
Plant Physiology, October 1, 2008; 148(2): 1168 - 1181.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
ASPB Publications THE PLANT CELL PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Copyright © 2007 by the American Society of Plant Biologists