TY - JOUR
T1 - A transposon surveillance mechanism that safeguards plant male fertility during stress
AU - Lee, Yang-Seok
AU - Maple, Robert
AU - Dürr, Julius
AU - Dawson, Alexander
AU - Tamim, Saleh
AU - del Genio, Charo
AU - Papareddy, Ranjith
AU - Luo, Anding
AU - Lamb, Jonathan
AU - Amantia, Stefano
AU - Sylvester, Anne
AU - Birchler, James
AU - Meyers, Blake
AU - Nodine, Michael
AU - Rouster, Jacques
AU - Gutierrez-Marcos, Jose
N1 - Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.
PY - 2021/1/4
Y1 - 2021/1/4
N2 - Although plants are able to withstand a range of environmental conditions, spikes in ambient temperature can impact plant fertility causing reductions in seed yield and notable economic losses
1,2. Therefore, understanding the precise molecular mechanisms that underpin plant fertility under environmental constraints is critical to safeguarding future food production
3. Here, we identified two Argonaute-like proteins whose activities are required to sustain male fertility in maize plants under high temperatures. We found that MALE-ASSOCIATED ARGONAUTE-1 and -2 associate with temperature-induced phased secondary small RNAs in pre-meiotic anthers and are essential to controlling the activity of retrotransposons in male meiocyte initials. Biochemical and structural analyses revealed how male-associated Argonaute activity and its interaction with retrotransposon RNA targets is modulated through the dynamic phosphorylation of a set of highly conserved, surface-located serine residues. Our results demonstrate that an Argonaute-dependent, RNA-guided surveillance mechanism is critical in plants to sustain male fertility under environmentally constrained conditions, by controlling the mutagenic activity of transposons in male germ cells.
AB - Although plants are able to withstand a range of environmental conditions, spikes in ambient temperature can impact plant fertility causing reductions in seed yield and notable economic losses
1,2. Therefore, understanding the precise molecular mechanisms that underpin plant fertility under environmental constraints is critical to safeguarding future food production
3. Here, we identified two Argonaute-like proteins whose activities are required to sustain male fertility in maize plants under high temperatures. We found that MALE-ASSOCIATED ARGONAUTE-1 and -2 associate with temperature-induced phased secondary small RNAs in pre-meiotic anthers and are essential to controlling the activity of retrotransposons in male meiocyte initials. Biochemical and structural analyses revealed how male-associated Argonaute activity and its interaction with retrotransposon RNA targets is modulated through the dynamic phosphorylation of a set of highly conserved, surface-located serine residues. Our results demonstrate that an Argonaute-dependent, RNA-guided surveillance mechanism is critical in plants to sustain male fertility under environmentally constrained conditions, by controlling the mutagenic activity of transposons in male germ cells.
UR - https://charodelgenio.weebly.com/mago.html
UR - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puKDIYSSH3U
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85098779339&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41477-020-00818-5
DO - 10.1038/s41477-020-00818-5
M3 - Article
SN - 2055-0278
VL - 7
SP - 34
EP - 41
JO - Nature Plants
JF - Nature Plants
ER -