Functional conservation of the meiotic genes SDS and RCK in male meiosis in the monocot rice

Functional conservation of the meiotic genes SDS and RCK in male meiosis in the monocot rice

Ling Chang;Hong Ma;Hong-Wei Xue

【期刊名称】《细胞研究（英文版）》 【年(卷),期】2009(019)006

【摘要】The Arabidopsis SDS (SOLO DANCERS) and RCK (ROCK-N-ROLLERS) genes are important for male meiosis, but it is still unknown whether they represent conserved functions in plants. We have performed phylogenetic analy-ses of SDS and RCK and their respective homologs, and identified their putative orthologs in poplar and rice. Quan-titative real-time RT-PCR analysis indicated that rice SDS and RCK are expressed preferentially in young flowers, and transgenic RNAi rice lines with reduced expression of these genes exhibited normal vegetative development, but showed significantly reduced fertility with partially sterile flowers and defective pollens. SDS deficiency also caused a decrease in pollen amounts. Further cytological examination of male meiocytes revealed that the SDS deficiency led to defects in homolog interaction and bivalent formation in meiotic prophase I, and RCK deficiency resulted in defec-tive meiotic crossover formation. These results indicate that rice SDS and RCK genes have similar functions to their Arabidopsis orthologs. Because rice and Arabidopsis, respectively, are members of monocots and eudicots, two largest groups of