dull: rice mutants with tissue-specific effects on the splicing of the waxy pre-mRNA.
In the endosperm of japonica rice, du-1 and du-2 mutations cause the reduction of amylose contents. It was previously shown that the Wx(b) allele of rice, which is predominantly distributed in japonica rice, has a mutation in the 5' splice site of intron 1 resulting in the creation of two weak 5' splice sites within exon 1. In du-1 and du-2 mutants, spliced Wx(b) transcripts were highly reduced, whereas the processing of transcripts derived from three other genes highly expressed in endosperm was not apparently influenced. Results of competitive RT-PCR analysis indicate that transcripts spliced at the two newly created 5' splice sites were equally affected in these two mutants. Genetic and molecular analyses of the effects of du-1 and du-2 on Wx(a) pre-mRNA with normal splice sites indicate that these two mutations do not affect the processing of Wx(a) pre-mRNA after splicing, suggesting that du-1 and du-2 are mutations of genes required for the efficient splicing of mutated Wx(b) pre-mRNA. Furthermore, du-1 and du-2 showed differential effects in endosperm and pollen. Although both mutations caused similar effects on the splicing of Wx(a) transcripts in endosperm, du-1 caused higher reduction of Wx(b) mRNA in pollen than in endosperm, while du-2 had a lesser effect in pollen than in endosperm. Based on these results, we propose that the du-1 and du-2 loci of rice encode tissue-specifically regulated splicing factors that are involved in alternative splicing of pre-mRNA in rice.
Isshiki
M
M
Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, 8916-5 Takayama, Ikoma 630-0101, Japan.
Nakajima
M
M
Satoh
H
H
Shimamoto
K
K
D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000688:Amylose / Q000378:metabolism; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015153:Blotting, Western; D007438:Introns; D009154:Mutation; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D011058:Pollen / Q000378:metabolism; D012322:RNA Precursors / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012639:Seeds / Q000378:metabolism; D013214:Starch Synthase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D010940:Plant Proteins; D012322:RNA Precursors; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C060756:waxy protein, plant; D000688:Amylose; D013214:Starch Synthase