Journal Article

The apocarotenoid metabolite zaxinone regulates growth and strigolactone biosynthesis in rice

Saito, Yoshimoto, Blilou, Ikram, Al-Babili, Salim, Jamil, Muhammad, Kountche, Boubacar A., Lanfranco, Luisa, Mi, Jianing, Reinke, Beate, Haider, Imran, Baz, Lina, Jia, Kun-Peng, Ntui, Valentine O., Wang, Jian You, Balakrishna, Aparna, Volpe, Veronica, Guo, Xiujie, Fiorilli, Valentina, Gojobori, Takashi, Bonfante, Paola

2019

Overview

Carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases (CCDs) form hormones and signaling molecules. Here we show that a member of an overlooked plant CCD subfamily from rice, that we name Zaxinone Synthase (ZAS), can produce zaxinone, a novel apocarotenoid metabolite in vitro. Loss-of-function mutants ( zas ) contain less zaxinone, exhibit retarded growth and showed elevated levels of strigolactones (SLs), a hormone that determines plant architecture, mediates mycorrhization and facilitates infestation by root parasitic weeds, such as Striga spp. Application of zaxinone can rescue zas phenotypes, decrease SL content and release and promote root growth in wild-type seedlings. In conclusion, we show that zaxinone is a key regulator of rice development and biotic interactions and has potential for increasing crop growth and combating Striga , a severe threat to global food security. Strigolactone and abscisic acid are carotenoid-derived plant hormones. Here the authors describe the identification of zaxinone, a further apocarotenoid metabolite, which down-regulates strigolactone content and is required for normal growth and development in rice.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 13/44 / 38 / 38/39 / 38/77 / 42 / 45 / 45/23 / 49 / 631/449 / 631/449/1741/2672 / 631/449/2667 / 631/449/2675 / 64 / 82/80 / 82/83 / Biosynthesis / Carotenoids / Carotenoids - metabolism / Crop growth / Dioxygenases - genetics / Dioxygenases - metabolism / Food security / Germination / Hormones / Host-Parasite Interactions - genetics / Humanities and Social Sciences / Infestation / Lactones - metabolism / Loss of Function Mutation / Metabolites / multidisciplinary / Mycorrhizae - physiology / Oryza / Oryza - genetics / Oryza - growth & development / Oryza - parasitology / Oxygenases - genetics / Oxygenases - metabolism / Phenotypes / Phylogeny / Phytohormones / Plant growth / Plant hormones / Plant Proteins - genetics / Plant Proteins - metabolism / Plant Roots - microbiology / Plant Weeds / Rice / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Seedlings / Striga / Striga - physiology