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MERISTEM ACTIVITYLESS (MAL) is involved in root development through maintenance of meristem size in rice

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Rice MERISTEM ACTIVITYLESS (MAL), a RING-H2 finger domain (RFD)-containing gene, regulates meristem cell viability after the initiation of root primordia mediated by cytokinin signaling.

Abstract

Genes in the RING-H2 finger domain (RFD) family play various roles during plant development and in biotic/abiotic stress responses. Rice gene MERISTEM ACTIVITYLESS (MAL), being contained in the RING-H2 finger domain (RFD), is characterized by a transmembrane domain at the N-terminal and a C3H2C3 zinc finger domain at the C-terminal. To elucidate the physiological and molecular functions of MAL, we generated MAL knockdown transgenic plants by RNA interference. MAL RNA-interfered (MRi) transgenic plants exhibited a phenotype with shorter crown root length and lower crown root number, accompanied by a lower cell division rate. The low division rate was observed in the root meristem exactly where MAL was expressed. Furthermore, transcriptome data revealed that cell wall macromolecule metabolism-related genes and redox-related genes were enriched in MAL RNAi lines. Most of these differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were induced by exogenous cytokinin. Hence, we conclude that MAL, as a novel regulatory factor, plays a major role in maintaining cell viability in the meristem after the initiation of root primordial formation, mediated by cytokinin signaling and reactive oxygen species (ROS).

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Acknowledgements

We thank Qinglu Zhang, and Xianghua Li for help in field experiments and management and Qinghua Zhang for RNA-Seq sequencing. This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0100301-006-1 and 2016YFD0100903-3), National Natural Science Foundation of China (31671516, 31730049 and 31970806) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2662018JC017).

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  1. National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Wei Jiang, Shaoli Zhou, Honglin Huang, Huazhi Song, Qinglu Zhang & Yu Zhao

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  1. Wei Jiang
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  2. Shaoli Zhou
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  3. Honglin Huang
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  4. Huazhi Song
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  5. Qinglu Zhang
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  6. Yu Zhao
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Contributions

W.J. and Y.Z. designed the experiment. W.J. S.Z. H.H., and H.S. performed the experiments. Q.Z. managed the fields. W.J., S.Z., and Y.Z. analyzed the data. J.W. and Y.Z. wrote the article.

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Correspondence to Yu Zhao.

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Jiang, W., Zhou, S., Huang, H. et al. MERISTEM ACTIVITYLESS (MAL) is involved in root development through maintenance of meristem size in rice. Plant Mol Biol 104, 499–511 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-020-01053-4

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