A novel semi-dominant allele of the transmembrane NAC transcription factor ZmNTL2 reduces the size of multiple maize organs
Chuan Li,
Yun Bai,
Yuwei Hou,
Siyu Wang,
Yue Xin,
Tao Yu,
Jing Wang,
Xiaowei Liu,
Hongyang Yi,
Chao Xia,
Hai Lan,
Moju Cao
Affiliations
Chuan Li
State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China
Yun Bai
State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China; Jilin Engineering Research Center for Crop Biotechnology Breeding, College of Plant Science, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, Jilin, China
Yuwei Hou
State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China
Siyu Wang
State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China
Yue Xin
State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China
Tao Yu
State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China
Jing Wang
State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China
Xiaowei Liu
State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China
Hongyang Yi
State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China
Chao Xia
State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China
Hai Lan
State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China; Corresponding authors.
Moju Cao
State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Maize Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China; Corresponding authors.
Maize plant architecture influences planting density and, in turn, grain yield. Most of the plant architecture-related traits can be described as organ size. We describe a miniature maize mutant, Tiny plant 4 (Tip4), which exhibits reduced size of multiple organs and exhibits a semi-dominant monofactorial inheritance characteristic. Positional cloning confirmed that a 4-bp deletion in the NAC TF with transmembrane motif 1-Like (NTL) gene ZmNTL2, denoted as ZmNTL2Δ, confers the Tip4 mutation. qRT-PCR showed that ZmNTL2 was expressed in all tested tissues. ZmNTL2 functions as a transcriptional activator and is located in both the nucleus and biomembranes. The mutation does not affect the mRNA abundance of ZmNTL2 locus, but it does result in the loss of transmembrane domain and confines the ZmNTL2Δ protein to the nucleus. Knocking out ZmNTL2 has no effect on maize organ size development, indicating that the 4-bp deletion might be a gain-of-function mutation in organ size regulation. Combining transcriptome sequencing with cytokinin and auxin content determination suggests that the decreased organ size may be possibly mediated by changes in hormone homeostasis.
