Campus Units

Agronomy, Genetics, Development and Cell Biology, Statistics, Center for Plant Genomics

Document Type

Article

Publication Version

Published Version

Publication Date

2-2015

Journal or Book Title

The Plant Journal

Volume

81

Issue

3

First Page

493

Last Page

504

DOI

10.1111/tpj.12745

Abstract

Mutations in the brown midrib4 (bm4) gene affect the accumulation and composition of lignin in maize. Fine‐mapping analysis of bm4 narrowed the candidate region to an approximately 105 kb interval on chromosome 9 containing six genes. Only one of these six genes, GRMZM2G393334, showed decreased expression in mutants. At least four of 10 Mu‐induced bm4 mutant alleles contain a Mu insertion in the GRMZM2G393334 gene. Based on these results, we concluded that GRMZM2G393334 is the bm4 gene. GRMZM2G393334 encodes a putative folylpolyglutamate synthase (FPGS), which functions in one‐carbon (C1) metabolism to polyglutamylate substrates of folate‐dependent enzymes. Yeast complementation experiments demonstrated that expression of the maize bm4 gene in FPGS‐deficient met7 yeast is able to rescue the yeast mutant phenotype, thus demonstrating that bm4 encodes a functional FPGS. Consistent with earlier studies, bm4 mutants exhibit a modest decrease in lignin concentration and an overall increase in the S:G lignin ratio relative to wild‐type. Orthologs of bm4 include at least one paralogous gene in maize and various homologs in other grasses and dicots. Discovery of the gene underlying the bm4 maize phenotype illustrates a role for FPGS in lignin biosynthesis.

Comments

This article is published as Li, Li, Sarah Hill‐Skinner, Sanzhen Liu, Danielle Beuchle, Ho Man Tang, Cheng‐Ting Yeh, Dan Nettleton, and Patrick S. Schnable. "The maize brown midrib4 (bm4) gene encodes a functional folylpolyglutamate synthase." The Plant Journal 81, no. 3 (2015): 493-504. doi: 10.1111/tpj.12745.

Copyright Owner

The Authors

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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