The maize (Zea mays L.) roothairless3 gene encodes a putative GPI-anchored, monocot-specific, COBRA-like protein that significantly affects grain yield

doi:10.1111/j.1365-313X.2008.03459.x

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Wiley InterScience

The Plant Journal

Volume 54 Issue 5, Pages 888 - 898

Published Online: 23 Feb 2008

Published in association with the Society for Experimental Biology

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The maize (Zea mays L.) roothairless3 gene encodes a putative GPI-anchored, monocot-specific, COBRA-like protein that significantly affects grain yield

Frank Hochholdinger ^1,¶ , Tsui-Jung Wen ^2,†,¶ , Roman Zimmermann ¹ , Patricia Chimot-Marolle ³ , Oswaldo da Costa e Silva ^3,‡ , Wesley Bruce ^4,§ , Kendall R. Lamkey ² , Udo Wienand ³ and Patrick S. Schnable ^2,4,5,6,*

¹ Center for Plant Molecular Biology, Department of General Genetics, Eberhard-Karls-University Tuebingen, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany,
² Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA,
³ Institute for General Botany and Botanical Garden, University of Hamburg, 22609 Hamburg, Germany,
⁴ Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. – a DuPont Company, Johnston, IA 50131, USA,
⁵ Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA, and
⁶ Center for Plant Genomics, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-36506, USA

Correspondence to *(fax +1 515 294 5256; e-mail schnable@iastate.edu).

^† Present address: 6416 E. Lake, Sammamish Parkway NE, Redmond, WA 98052, USA.

^‡ Present address: BASF Future Business GmbH, 67063 Ludwigshafen, Germany.

^§ Present address: BASF Plant Science, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA.

^¶ These authors contributed equally to this paper.

Re-use of this article is permitted in accordance with the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 2.5, which does not permit commercial exploitation.

KEYWORDS

rth3 • COBRA-like • root hairs • maize • mutant

ABSTRACT

The rth3 (roothairless 3) mutant is specifically affected in root hair elongation. We report here the cloning of the rth3 gene via a PCR-based strategy (amplification of insertion mutagenized sites) and demonstrate that it encodes a COBRA-like protein that displays all the structural features of a glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor. Genes of the COBRA family are involved in various types of cell expansion and cell wall biosynthesis. The rth3 gene belongs to a monocot-specific clade of the COBRA gene family comprising two maize and two rice genes. While the rice (Oryza sativa) gene OsBC1L1 appears to be orthologous to rth3 based on sequence similarity (86% identity at the protein level) and maize/rice synteny, the maize (Zea mays L.) rth3-like gene does not appear to be a functional homolog of rth3 based on their distinct expression profiles. Massively parallel signature sequencing analysis detected rth3 expression in all analyzed tissues, but at relatively low levels, with the most abundant expression in primary roots where the root hair phenotype is manifested. In situ hybridization experiments confine rth3 expression to root hair-forming epidermal cells and lateral root primordia. Remarkably, in replicated field trials involving near-isogenic lines, the rth3 mutant conferred significant losses in grain yield.