title: LAX PANICLE2 of rice encodes a novel nuclear protein and regulates the formation of axillary meristems.
abstract: Aerial architecture in higher plants is dependent on the activity of the shoot apical meristem (SAM) and axillary meristems (AMs). The SAM produces a main shoot and leaf primordia, while AMs are generated at the axils of leaf primordia and give rise to branches and flowers. Therefore, the formation of AMs is a critical step in the construction of plant architecture. Here, we characterized the rice (Oryza sativa) lax panicle2 (lax2) mutant, which has altered AM formation. LAX2 regulates the branching of the aboveground parts of a rice plant throughout plant development, except for the primary branch in the panicle. The lax2 mutant is similar to lax panicle1 (lax1) in that it lacks an AM in most of the lateral branching of the panicle and has a reduced number of AMs at the vegetative stage. The lax1 lax2 double mutant synergistically enhances the reduced-branching phenotype, indicating the presence of multiple pathways for branching. LAX2 encodes a nuclear protein that contains a plant-specific conserved domain and physically interacts with LAX1. We propose that LAX2 is a novel factor that acts together with LAX1 in rice to regulate the process of AM formation.
authors.affiliation: Crop Development Division, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization Agricultural Research Center, Niigata 943-0193, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tabuchi
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.forename: Minami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Omae
authors.forename: Sae
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shimizu-Sato
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oikawa
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: Hidemi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kitano
authors.forename: He
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Xiaohua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Junko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kyozuka
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
mesh_terms: D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018519:Meristem / Q000254:growth & development*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D010802:Phylogeny; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins