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Rice OVATE family protein 6 regulates leaf angle by modulating secondary cell wall biosynthesis

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Abstract

Secondary cell wall not only provides rigidity and mechanical resistance to plants, but also has a large impact on plant growth and adaptation to environments. Biosynthesis of secondary cell wall is regulated by a complicated signaling transduction network; however, it is still unclear how the transcriptional regulation of secondary cell wall biosynthesis works at the molecular level. Here, we report in rice that OVATE family proteins 6 (OsOFP6) is a positive regulator in modulating expression of the genes related to biosynthesis of the secondary cell wall. Transgenic plants with knock-down of OsOFP6 by RNA interference showed increased leaf angle, which resulted from the thinner secondary cell wall with reduced amounts of cellulose and lignin, whilst overexpression of OsOFP6 in rice led to the thinker secondary cell wall with increased lignin content. Protein-protein interaction analysis revealed that OsOFP6 interacts with Oryza sativa homeobox 15 (OSH15), a class I KNOX protein. The interaction of OsOFP6 and OSH15 enhanced the transcriptional activity of OSH15 which binds to the promoter of OsIRX9 (Oryza sativa IRREGULAR XYLEM 9). Taken together, our study provides insights into the function of OsOFP6 in regulating leaf angle and the control of biosynthesis of secondary cell wall.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Mrs. Xiaoling Guo of College of the Environment & Ecology, Xiamen University for helpful discussion. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31671271, 31970523).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of South China Agricultural Plant Molecular Analysis and Genetic Improvement, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, South China, 510650, China

    Xiaoxuan Sun, Yamei Ma, Chao Yang & Jianxiong Li

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xiaoxuan Sun, Yamei Ma, Chao Yang & Jianxiong Li

  3. Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China

    Jianxiong Li

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  1. Xiaoxuan Sun
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Sun, X., Ma, Y., Yang, C. et al. Rice OVATE family protein 6 regulates leaf angle by modulating secondary cell wall biosynthesis. Plant Mol Biol 104, 249–261 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-020-01039-2

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