水稻雄蕊特异表达的油体钙蛋白基因OsCLO7在生殖期抗旱中的功能探索

Enhancing stress resistance of crops are important measures to cope with environmental degradation and ensuring food security. The developments of plant especially stamen at reproductive growth stages are particularly vulnerable to environmental stresses. It is very important to understand stamen-specific resistance while current research in this area is lacking. Plants own conservative resistance mechanisms and calcium signalings play important roles. Caleosins are unique calcium-binding proteins of plants which mainly locate on oil bodies. The C-terminal of the family has multiple phosphorylation sites. These proteins are thought to be involved in signal transduction via calcium binding or phosphorylation/dephosphorylation. There are 8 caleosins in rice (OsCLO1-8), of them OsCLO7 is specially expressed in stamen. We demonstrate that the expression of this gene is highly regulated in a developmental progress and is drought responsive. The osclo7 mutant shows declined fertility and is more sensitive to drought. How do OsCLO7 play the role on the stamen development and drought resistance? This project aims to study the role of OsCLO7 using the mutant and other genetically modified materials. Biochemical experiments and a series of molecular techniques will be applied to explore functional regulatory network, providing candidate genes for rice yield.

增强作物的抗逆性是应对环境恶化和保证粮食安全生产的重要措施。作物生殖生长阶段特别是雄蕊的发育最容易受环境胁迫影响，了解雄蕊特异的抗逆过程非常重要，目前这方面的研究较为欠缺。植物具备保守的抗逆机制，钙信号调控网络在其中发挥了重要的作用。油体钙蛋白(caleosins) 是植物特有的钙结合蛋白，主要定位于油体。该家族蛋白C-端含多个磷酸化位点，推测caleosins参与了重要的信号传导过程。水稻中共有8个caleosins (OsCLO1-8)，其中OsCLO7在雄蕊中特异表达。我们的研究显示：OsCLO7的表达受发育调控，同时响应干旱胁迫。该基因突变后结实率下降，对干旱更加敏感。OsCLO7如何在雄蕊生殖发育和抗旱中发挥功能？本项目拟利用突变体和其他转基因材料考察该基因的作用环节，通过生化实验分析蛋白的功能及调控，应用一系列分子研究手段探索功能调控网络，为水稻稳产提供候选基因。