Journal
HEREDITY
Volume 102, Issue 3, Pages 236-245Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/hdy.2008.96
Keywords
maize; phytic acid; 5-Azacytidine treatment; gene silencing; paramutation
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Funding
- Fondo Interno Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica
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So far, in maize, three classes of mutants involved in phytic acid biosynthesis have been isolated: lpa1, lpa2 and lpa3. In 2007, a gene tagging experiment performed by Shi et al. found that mutations in ZmMRP4 ( multidrug resistance-associated proteins 4) gene cause lpa1 phenotype. In previous studies, we isolated and described a single recessive lpa mutation ( originally named lpa241), which was allelic to the lpa1-1 mutant, and was consequently renamed lpa1-241. It showed a decrease in the expression of the myo-inositol (Ins)-3-phosphate synthase gene (mips1S). In this study, we present genetic and molecular analyses of the lpa1-241 mutation that indicate an epigenetic origin of this trait, that is, a paramutagenic interaction that results in meiotically heritable changes in ZmMRP4 gene expression, causing a strong pleiotropic effect on the whole plant. The use of a 5-Azacytidine treatment provided data suggesting an association between gene methylation and the lpa1-241 phenotype. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a paramutagenic activity not involving flavonoid biosynthesis in maize, but regarding a key enzyme of an important metabolic pathway in plants.
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