BABY BOOM regulates early embryo and endosperm development.
Baojian ChenLena MaasDuarte D FigueiredoYu ZhongRicardo ReisMengran LiAnneke HorstmanTjitske RiksenMieke WeemenHang LiuCharlotte SiemonsShaojiang ChenGerco C AngenentKim BoutilierPublished in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2022)
The BABY BOOM (BBM) AINTEGUMENTA-LIKE (AIL) AP2/ERF domain transcription factor is a major regulator of plant cell totipotency, as it induces asexual embryo formation when ectopically expressed. Surprisingly, only limited information is available on the role of BBM during zygotic embryogenesis. Here we reexamined BBM expression and function in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana ( Arabidopsis ) using reporter analysis and newly developed CRISPR mutants. BBM was expressed in the embryo from the zygote stage and also in the maternal (nucellus) and filial (endosperm) seed tissues. Analysis of CRISPR mutant alleles for BBM ( bbm-cr ) and the redundantly acting AIL gene PLETHORA2 ( PLT2 ) ( plt2-cr ) uncovered individual roles for these genes in the timing of embryo progression. We also identified redundant roles for BBM and PLT2 in endosperm proliferation and cellularization and the maintenance of zygotic embryo development. Finally, we show that ectopic BBM expression in the egg cell of Arabidopsis and the dicot crops Brassica napus and Solanum lycopersicon is sufficient to bypass the fertilization requirement for embryo development. Together these results highlight roles for BBM and PLT2 in seed development and demonstrate the utility of BBM genes for engineering asexual embryo development in dicot species.
Keyphrases
- transcription factor
- pregnancy outcomes
- genome wide identification
- genome wide
- poor prognosis
- arabidopsis thaliana
- crispr cas
- single cell
- body mass index
- healthcare
- dna methylation
- cell therapy
- physical activity
- copy number
- social media
- dna binding
- genome wide analysis
- binding protein
- plasmodium falciparum
- weight loss