Arabidopsis AtBECLIN 1/AtAtg6/AtVps30 is essential for pollen germination and plant development.
Pollen germination on the surface of compatible stigmatic tissues is an essential step for plant fertilization. Here we report that the Arabidopsis mutant bcl1 is male sterile as a result of the failure of pollen germination. We show that the bcl1 mutant allele cannot be transmitted by male gametophytes and no homozygous bcl1 mutants were obtained. Analysis of pollen developmental stages indicates that the bcl1 mutation affects pollen germination but not pollen maturation. Molecular analysis demonstrates that the failure of pollen germination was caused by the disruption of AtBECLIN 1. AtBECLIN 1 is expressed predominantly in mature pollen and encodes a protein with significant homology to Beclin1/Atg6/Vps30 required for the processes of autophagy and vacuolar protein sorting (VPS) in yeast. We also show that AtBECLIN 1 is required for normal plant development, and that genes related to autophagy, VPS and the glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor system, were affected by the deficiency of AtBECLIN 1.
Qin
Genji
G
National Laboratory for Protein Engineering and Plant Genetic Engineering, Peking-Yale Joint Research Center for Plant Molecular Genetics and AgroBiotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Ma
Zhiqiang
Z
Zhang
Li
L
Xing
Shufan
S
Hou
Xianhui
X
Deng
Jie
J
Liu
Jingjing
J
Chen
Zhangliang
Z
Qu
Li-Jia
LJ
Gu
Hongya
H
D033942:Adaptor Proteins, Vesicular Transport; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D000071186:Beclin-1; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D018525:Germination / Q000235:genetics*; D050505:Mutant Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D051479:Plant Infertility / Q000235:genetics; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D011058:Pollen / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D033942:Adaptor Proteins, Vesicular Transport; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D000071186:Beclin-1; D050505:Mutant Proteins; C519561:beclin 1 protein, Arabidopsis