title: Activation tagging in indica rice identifies ribosomal proteins as potential targets for manipulation of water-use efficiency and abiotic stress tolerance in plants.
abstract: We have generated 3900 enhancer-based activation-tagged plants, in addition to 1030 stable Dissociator-enhancer plants in a widely cultivated indica rice variety, BPT-5204. Of them, 3000 were screened for water-use efficiency (WUE) by analysing photosynthetic quantum efficiency and yield-related attributes under water-limiting conditions that identified 200 activation-tagged mutants, which were analysed for flanking sequences at the site of enhancer integration in the genome. We have further selected five plants with low Δ13C, high quantum efficiency and increased plant yield compared with wild type for a detailed investigation. Expression studies of 18 genes in these mutants revealed that in four plants one of the three to four tagged genes became activated, while two genes were concurrently up-regulated in the fifth plant. Two genes coding for proteins involved in 60S ribosomal assembly, RPL6 and RPL23A, were among those that became activated by enhancers. Quantitative expression analysis of these two genes also corroborated the results on activating-tagging. The high up-regulation of RPL6 and RPL23A in various stress treatments and the presence of significant cis-regulatory elements in their promoter regions along with the high up-regulation of several of RPL genes in various stress treatments indicate that they are potential targets for manipulating WUE/abiotic stress tolerance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, 500046, India.
authors.forename: Mazahar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moin
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, 500046, India.
authors.forename: Achala
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bakshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, 500046, India.
authors.forename: Anusree
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences - GKVK, Hebbal, Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Udaya Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, 500046, India.
authors.forename: Attipalli R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: Center for Plant Molecular Biology, Osmania University, Hyderabad, 500007, India.
authors.forename: K V
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, PJTS Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, 500030, India.
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Siddiq
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, 500046, India. pbkirti@uohyd.ac.in.
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Kirti
mesh_terms: D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000378:metabolism; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics*; D010788:Photosynthesis; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D015854:Up-Regulation; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins; D014867:Water; D002734:Chlorophyll
keywords: Samba Mahsuri (BPT-5204); functional genomics; rice