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Plant and Cell Physiology Advance Access originally published online on October 20, 2006
Plant and Cell Physiology 2006 47(12):1591-1602; doi:10.1093/pcp/pcl025
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Rapid Paper

Conservation and Diversification of Meristem Maintenance Mechanism in Oryza sativa: Function of the FLORAL ORGAN NUMBER2 Gene

Takuya Suzaki1, Taiyo Toriba1, Masaru Fujimoto2, Nobuhiro Tsutsumi2, Hidemi Kitano3 and Hiro-Yuki Hirano1,*

1 Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033 Japan
2 Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8657 Japan
3 Bioscience and Biotechnology Center, Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya, 464-8601 Japan

* Corresponding author: E-mail, hyhirano{at}biol.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp; Fax, +81-3-5841-4056.


  Abstract

To elucidate the genetic mechanism that regulates meristem maintenance in monocots, here we have examined the function of the gene FLORAL ORGAN NUMBER2 (FON2) in Oryza sativa (rice). Mutations in FON2 cause enlargement of the floral meristem, resulting in an increase in the number of floral organs, although the vegetative and inflorescence meristems are largely normal. Molecular cloning reveals that FON2 encodes a small secreted protein, containing a CLE domain, that is closely related to CLAVATA3 in Arabidopsis thaliana. FON2 transcripts are localized at the apical region in all meristems in the aerial parts of rice plants, showing an expression pattern similar to that of Arabidopsis CLV3. Constitutive expression of FON2 causes a reduction in the number of floral organs and flowers, suggesting that both the flower and inflorescence meristems are reduced in size. This action of FON2 requires the function of FON1, an ortholog of CLV1. Constitutive expression of FON2 also causes premature termination of the shoot apical meristem in Arabidopsis, a phenotype similar to that caused by constitutive expression of CLV3. Together with our previous study of FON1, these results clearly indicate that the FON1–FON2 system in rice corresponds to the CLV signaling system in Arabidopsis and suggest that the negative regulation of stem cell identity by these systems may be principally conserved in a wide range of plants within the Angiosperms. In addition, we propose a model of the genetic regulation of meristem maintenance in rice that includes an alternative pathway independent of FON2–FON1.

Keywords: CLAVATA signaling pathway - CLE domain - FLORAL ORGAN NUMBER (FON) gene - Meristem maintenance - Oryza sativa (rice)

Abbreviations: CaMV, cauliflower mosaic virus; LRR, leucine-rich repeat

Nucleotide sequence data of the FON2 cDNA have been deposited in the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank database under accession number AB245090.

(Received October 3, 2006; Accepted October 16, 2006)
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