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Functional characterization of GPC-1 genes in hexaploid wheat

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Abstract

In wheat, monocarpic senescence is a tightly regulated process during which nitrogen (N) and micronutrients stored pre-anthesis are remobilized from vegetative tissues to the developing grains. Recently, a close connection between senescence and remobilization was shown through the map-based cloning of the GPC (grain protein content) gene in wheat. GPC-B1 encodes a NAC transcription factor associated with earlier senescence and increased grain protein, iron and zinc content, and is deleted or non-functional in most commercial wheat varieties. In the current research, we identified ‘loss of function’ ethyl methanesulfonate mutants for the two GPC-B1 homoeologous genes; GPC-A1 and GPC-D1, in a hexaploid wheat mutant population. The single gpc-a1 and gpc-d1 mutants, the double gpc-1 mutant and control lines were grown under field conditions at four locations and were characterized for senescence, GPC, micronutrients and yield parameters. Our results show a significant delay in senescence in both the gpc-a1 and gpc-d1 single mutants and an even stronger effect in the gpc-1 double mutant in all the environments tested in this study. The accumulation of total N in the developing grains showed a similar increase in the control and gpc-1 plants until 25 days after anthesis (DAA) but at 41 and 60 DAA the control plants had higher grain N content than the gpc-1 mutants. At maturity, GPC in all mutants was significantly lower than in control plants while grain weight was unaffected. These results demonstrate that the GPC-A1 and GPC-D1 genes have a redundant function and play a major role in the regulation of monocarpic senescence and nutrient remobilization in wheat.

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Abbreviations

DAA:

Days after anthesis

DIC:

Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccoides (Körn.) Thell

DM:

Dry matter

EMS:

Ethyl methanesulfonate

GPC:

Grain protein content

NAC:

NAM; ATAF1,2; CUC2

NY:

Newe Ya’ar Regional Research Center, Israel

TAU:

Tel Aviv University, Israel

TILLING:

Targeting Induced Lesions IN Genoms

TKW:

Thousand kernel weight

UCD:

University of California, Davis

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Bat-Sheva Ben-Zvi, Dr. Chingiz K. Alekperov, Assaf Avneri, Isaac Levian, Francine Paraiso, Danna Chan, Anna Amen, Mike Steine, and Dayna Loeffler for excellent technical assistance. T. Fahima and J. Dubcovsky acknowledge support from United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (Grant 2007194). J. Dubcovsky acknowledges support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Gordon and Betty Moore foundation grant GBMF3031, and from the Agricultural and Food Research Initiative Grant 2011-68002-30029 (Triticeae-CAP) from USDA-NIFA. A. Distelfeld acknowledged support from the Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant number PIRG08-GA-2010-277036 and from the ISRAEL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (grants No. 999/12 and 1824/12).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biology and Ecology of Plants, Faculty of Life Sciences, The Institute for Cereal Crops Improvement, Tel Aviv University, Room 205, 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Raz Avni & Assaf Distelfeld

  2. Department of Plant Nutrition, College of Resources and Environmental Science, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Rongrong Zhao

  3. Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Rongrong Zhao, Stephen Pearce, Cristobal Uauy, Facundo Tabbita & Jorge Dubcovsky

  4. Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, 31905, Haifa, Israel

    Yan Jun & Tzion Fahima

  5. Arcadia Biosciences Inc., Seattle, WA, 98119, USA

    Ann Slade

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  1. Raz Avni
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  9. Jorge Dubcovsky
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  10. Assaf Distelfeld
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Assaf Distelfeld.

Additional information

R. Avni and R. Zhao contributed equally to this work.

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Avni, R., Zhao, R., Pearce, S. et al. Functional characterization of GPC-1 genes in hexaploid wheat. Planta 239, 313–324 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-013-1977-y

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