MOS1 Negatively Regulates Sugar Responses and Anthocyanin Biosynthesis in Arabidopsis.

Sugars, which are important signaling molecules, regulate diverse biological processes in plants. However, the convergent regulatory mechanisms governing these physiological activities have not been fully elucidated. MODIFIER OF snc1-1 (MOS1), a modulator of plant immunity, also regulates floral transition, cell cycle control, and other biological processes. However, there was no evidence of whether this protein was involved in sugar responses. In this study, we found that the loss-of-function mutant mos1-6 (mos1) was hypersensitive to sugar and was characterized by defective germination and shortened roots when grown on high-sugar medium. The expression of MOS1 was enhanced by sucrose. Hexokinase 1, an important gene involved in sugar signaling, was upregulated in the mos1 mutant compared to wild-type Col-0 in response to sugar. Furthermore, the mos1 mutant accumulated more anthocyanin than did wild-type Col-0 when grown on high-sugar concentration medium or under high light. MOS1 was found to regulate the expression of flavonoid and anthocyanin biosynthetic genes in response to exogenous sucrose and high-light stress but with different underlying mechanisms, showing multiple functions in addition to immunity regulation in plant development. Our results suggest that the immune regulator MOS1 serves as a coordinator in the regulatory network, governing immunity and other physiological processes.

Identifying genes for resistant starch, slowly digestible starch, and rapidly digestible starch in rice using genome-wide association studies.

BACKGROUND: The digestibility of starch is important for the nutritive value of staple food. Although several genes are responsible for resistant starch (RS) and slowly digestible starch (SDS), gaps persist concerning the molecular basis of RS and SDS formation due to the complex genetic mechanisms of starch digestibility. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to identify new genes for starch digestibility in rice and interprete the genetic mechanisms of RS and SDS by GWAS. METHODS: Genome-wide association studies were conducted by associating the RS and SDS phenotypes of 104 re-sequenced rice lines to an SNP dataset of 2,288,867 sites using a compressed mixed linear model. Candidate genes were identified according to the position of the SNPs based on data from the MSU Rice Genome Annotation Project. RESULTS: Seven quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were detected to be associated with the RS content, among which the SNP 6 m1765761 was located on Waxy. Starch branching enzymes IIa (BEIIa) close to QTL qRS-I4 was detected and further identified as a specific candidate gene for RS in INDICA. Two QTLs were associated with SDS, and the LOC_Os09g09360 encoding lipase was identified as a causal gene for SDS. CONCLUSIONS: GWAS is a valid strategy to genetically dissect the formation of starch digestion properties in rice. RS formation in grains is dependent on the rice type; lipid might also contribute to starch digestibility and should be an alternative factor to improve rice starch digestibility.