The Phosphoproteomic and Interactomic Landscape of qGL3/OsPPKL1 Mediated Brassinosteroid Signaling in Rice.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important crops in the world, and grain size is a major component determining rice yield. Recent studies identified a number of grain size regulators, which are involved in the phytohormone signaling, G protein signaling, mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway, ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, or transcriptional regulation. In previous study, we cloned qGL3/OsPPKL1 encoding a rice protein phosphatase that negatively modulates brassinosteroid (BR) signaling and grain length. Here, to further explore qGL3-mediated BR signaling network, we performed phosphoproteomic screenings using two pairs of rice materials: the indica rice cultivar 9311 and its near-isogenic line NILqgl3 and the japonica rice cultivar Dongjin and its qGL3 knockout mutant m-qgl3. Together with qGL3-interacting proteins, we constructed the qGL3-mediated network, which reveals the relationships between BR signaling and other critical signaling pathways. Transgenic plants of these network components showed BR-related alterations in plant architecture. From this network, we validated a qGL3-interacting protein, O. sativa VERNALIZATION INSENSITIVE3-LIKE1 (OsVIL1), and demonstrated that qGL3 dephosphorylates OsVIL1 to modulate BR signaling. The qGL3-dependent network uncovered in this study increases our understanding of BR signaling and provides a profound foundation for addressing how BR modulates plant architecture in rice.