Abstract
Meristems house the stem cells needed for the developmental plasticity observed in adverse environmental conditions and are crucial for determining plant architecture. Meristem development is particularly sensitive to deficiencies of the micronutrient boron, yet how boron integrates into meristem development pathways is unknown. We addressed this question using the boron-deficient maize mutant, tassel-less1 (tls1). Reduced boron uptake in tls1 leads to a progressive impairment of meristem development that manifests in vegetative and reproductive defects. We show, that the tls1 tassel phenotype (male reproductive structure) was partially suppressed by mutations in the CLAVATA1 (CLV1)-ortholog, thick tassel dwarf1 (td1), but not by other mutants in the well characterized CLV-WUSCHEL pathway, which controls meristem size. The suppression of tls1 by td1 correlates with altered signaling of the phytohormone cytokinin. In contrast, mutations in the meristem maintenance gene knotted1 (kn1) enhanced both vegetative and reproductive defects in tls1. In addition, reduced transcript levels of kn1 and cell cycle genes are early defects in tls1 tassel meristems. Our results show that specific meristem maintenance and hormone pathways are affected in tls1, and suggest that reduced boron levels induced by tls1 are the underlying cause of the observed defects. We, therefore, provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms affected by boron deficiency in maize, leading to a better understanding of how genetic and environmental factors integrate during shoot meristem development.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | e13670 |
| Journal | Physiologia Plantarum |
| Volume | 174 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 1 2022 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank the Maize Cell Genomics consortium, especially Drs. Anne Sylvester (University of Wyoming) and Dave Jackson (Cold Spring Harbor Lab) for providing transgenic marker lines, the DNA core facility (University of Missouri) for sequencing services, the molecular cytology core facility (University of Missouri), particularly Drs. Frank Baker and Alexander Jurkevich for assistance with confocal microscopy, and the Chair of Plant Nutrition at the University of Bonn, particularly Prof. Dr. Gabriel Schaaf and Angelika Veits for help with the boron analytics of mutants. We thank the Proteomics & Metabolomics Facility, Nebraska Center for Biotechnology at the University of Nebraska‐Lincoln for the hormone analysis (facility and instrumentation supported by the Nebraska Research Initiative). We are grateful to Michelle Brooks, Chris Browne, Nate Oswald and their teams for exceptional plant care, to Drs. Mike Muszynski and Angel Del Valle Echevarria (University of Hawaii) for information on genotyping, to Dr. Georg Harberer for statistical guidance, and to George Meyer, Laine Weiskopf, and Tyler Kling for assisting in geno‐/phenotyping. Mention of trade names or commercial products in this publication is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is an equal opportunity provider and employer. kn1 abph1
Funding Information:
We thank the Maize Cell Genomics consortium, especially Drs. Anne Sylvester (University of Wyoming) and Dave Jackson (Cold Spring Harbor Lab) for providing transgenic marker lines, the DNA core facility (University of Missouri) for sequencing services, the molecular cytology core facility (University of Missouri), particularly Drs. Frank Baker and Alexander Jurkevich for assistance with confocal microscopy, and the Chair of Plant Nutrition at the University of Bonn, particularly Prof. Dr. Gabriel Schaaf and Angelika Veits for help with the boron analytics of kn1 mutants. We thank the Proteomics & Metabolomics Facility, Nebraska Center for Biotechnology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for the hormone analysis (facility and instrumentation supported by the Nebraska Research Initiative). We are grateful to Michelle Brooks, Chris Browne, Nate Oswald and their teams for exceptional plant care, to Drs. Mike Muszynski and Angel Del Valle Echevarria (University of Hawaii) for information on abph1 genotyping, to Dr. Georg Harberer for statistical guidance, and to George Meyer, Laine Weiskopf, and Tyler Kling for assisting in geno-/phenotyping. Mention of trade names or commercial products in this publication is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society.
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article