Abstract
BackgroundThe anthers and pollen grains are critical for male fertility and hybrid rice breeding. The development of rice mature anther and pollen consists of multiple continuous stages. However, molecular mechanisms regulating mature anther development were poorly understood.ResultsIn this study, we have identified 291 mature anther-preferentially expressed genes (OsSTA) in rice based on Affymetrix microarray data. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis indicated that OsSTA genes mainly participated in metabolic and cellular processes that are likely important for rice anther and pollen development. The expression patterns of OsSTA genes were validated using real-time PCR and mRNA in situ hybridizations. Cis-element identification showed that most of the OsSTA genes had the cis-elements responsive to phytohormone regulation. Co-expression analysis of OsSTA genes showed that genes annotated with pectinesterase and calcium ion binding activities were rich in the network, suggesting that OsSTA genes could be involved in pollen germination and anther dehiscence. Furthermore, OsSTA RNAi transgenic lines showed male-sterility and pollen germination defects.ConclusionsThe results suggested that OsSTA genes function in rice male fertility, pollen germination and anther dehiscence and established molecular regulating networks that lay the foundation for further functional studies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1305-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
The anthers and pollen grains are critical for male fertility and hybrid rice breeding
The data for rice mature anther-preferentially expressed genes was cited from the results of tissue-specific expressed genes in previous study, which contain 21 tissues during the rice development [15]
We have identified 402 probe sets preferentially expressed in the mature anther and 4 folds higher than other tissues
Summary
The anthers and pollen grains are critical for male fertility and hybrid rice breeding. The development of rice mature anther and pollen consists of multiple continuous stages. Molecular mechanisms regulating mature anther development were poorly understood. Stamen is the male reproductive organ that consists of anthers and filaments. Anther development and pollen fertility are directly associated with rice yield in the agricultural production. The key role of male sterility in rice heterosis spurred people to investigate the regulatory mechanism of pollen development [3]. Rice anther and pollen development is an active area of research plant reproduction and crop breeding. Anther development in rice was divided into 14 stages, which was consistent with that of Arabidopsis [2,4].
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