title: A Novel Imprinted Gene NUWA Controls Mitochondrial Function in Early Seed Development in Arabidopsis.
abstract: Imprinted genes display biased expression of paternal and maternal alleles and are only found in mammals and flowering plants. Compared to several hundred imprinted genes that are functionally characterized in mammals, very few imprinted genes were confirmed in plants and even fewer of them have been functionally investigated. Here, we report a new imprinted gene, NUWA, in plants. NUWA is an essential gene, because loss of its function resulted in reduced transmission through the female gametophyte and defective cell/nuclear proliferation in early Arabidopsis embryo and endosperm. NUWA is a maternally expressed imprinted gene, as only the maternal allele of NUWA is transcribed and translated from gametogenesis to the 16-cell globular embryo stage after fertilization, and the de novo transcription of the maternal allele of NUWA starts from the zygote stage. Different from other identified plant imprinted genes whose encoded proteins are mostly localized to the nucleus, the NUWA protein was localized to the mitochondria and was essential for mitochondria function. Our work uncovers a novel imprinted gene of a previously unidentified type, namely, a maternal-specific expressed nuclear gene with its encoded protein localizing to and controlling the function of the maternally inherited mitochondria. This reveals a unique mechanism of maternal control of the mitochondria and adds an extra layer of complexity to the regulation of nucleus-organelle coordination during early plant development.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8253-2278
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiangyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qingpei
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3379-237X
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Development Biology, College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Development Biology, College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Mengxiang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jingjing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Weiqiang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Genji
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6995-5126
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.|The National Plant Gene Research Center (Beijing), Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Hongya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.|The National Plant Gene Research Center (Beijing), Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Li-Jia
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Qu
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins