OsGL1-3 is involved in cuticular wax biosynthesis and tolerance to water deficit in rice

Xiaoyun Zhou; Linzhi Li; Jianhua Xiang; Guofu Gao; Faxi Xu; Ailing Liu; Xianwen Zhang; Yan Peng; Xinbo Chen; Xiangyuan Wan

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0116676

OsGL1-3 is involved in cuticular wax biosynthesis and tolerance to water deficit in rice

PLoS One. 2015 Jan 2;10(1):e116676. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0116676. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Xiaoyun Zhou¹, Linzhi Li¹, Jianhua Xiang², Guofu Gao³, Faxi Xu¹, Ailing Liu¹, Xianwen Zhang¹, Yan Peng⁴, Xinbo Chen¹, Xiangyuan Wan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Crop Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Hunan Province, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China; College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China.
² Key Laboratory for Crop Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Hunan Province, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China; School of Life Science, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, China.
³ Key Laboratory for Crop Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Hunan Province, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China; Research Institute of Science and Technology Information, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory for Crop Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Hunan Province, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory for Crop Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Hunan Province, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China; State Key laboratory of Main Crop Germplasm Innovation, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Cuticular wax covers aerial organs of plants and functions as the outermost barrier against non-stomatal water loss. We reported here the functional characterization of the Glossy1(GL1)-homologous gene OsGL1-3 in rice using overexpression and RNAi transgenic rice plants. OsGL1-3 gene was ubiquitously expressed at different level in rice plants except root and its expression was up-regulated under ABA and PEG treatments. The transient expression of OsGL1-3-GFP fusion protein indicated that OsGL1-3 is mainly localized in the plasma membrane. Compared to the wild type, overexpression rice plants exhibited stunted growth, more wax crystallization on leaf surface, and significantly increased total cuticular wax load due to the prominent changes of C30-C32 aldehydes and C30 primary alcohols. While the RNAi knockdown mutant of OsGL1-3 exhibited no significant difference in plant height, but less wax crystallization and decreased total cuticular wax accumulation on leaf surface. All these evidences, together with the effects of OsGL1-3 on the expression of some wax synthesis related genes, suggest that OsGL1-3 is involved in cuticular wax biosynthesis. Overexpression of OsGL1-3 decreased chlorophyll leaching and water loss rate whereas increased tolerance to water deficit at both seedling and late-tillering stages, suggesting an important role of OsGL1-3 in drought tolerance.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Abscisic Acid / pharmacology
Adaptation, Physiological*
Cell Membrane Permeability
Chlorophyll / metabolism
Droughts
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / drug effects
Membrane Proteins / genetics
Membrane Proteins / metabolism*
Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
Oryza / genetics
Oryza / metabolism*
Phylogeny
Plant Epidermis / genetics
Plant Epidermis / metabolism
Plant Growth Regulators / pharmacology
Plant Leaves / genetics
Plant Leaves / metabolism
Plant Leaves / ultrastructure
Plant Proteins / classification
Plant Proteins / genetics
Plant Proteins / metabolism*
Plants, Genetically Modified
RNA Interference
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
Seedlings / genetics
Seedlings / metabolism
Water / metabolism*
Waxes / metabolism*

Substances

Membrane Proteins
Plant Growth Regulators
Plant Proteins
Waxes
Water
Chlorophyll
Abscisic Acid

Grants and funding

This study was supported by Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (20124320110012), Open Research Fund of the State Key Laboratory of Main Crop Germplasm Innovation, Key Science and Technology Project of Hunan Province (2014WK2004), and Construct Program of the Key Discipline in Hunan Province. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.