Overexpression of OsDPR, a novel rice gene highly expressed under iron deficiency, suppresses plant growth

Preliminary microarray analysis of cDNA from rice roots revealed an up-regulated transcript that was highly expressed in a five-day iron deficiency treatment. The entire sequence of this gene was determined by bioinformatics analysis. There were no proteins with significant levels of similarity detected in public databases. This novel gene with unknown biological function was designated as OsDPR (dwarf phenotype-related gene). We constructed a stable plant expression vector pCAMBIA1302-OsDPR::GFP and produced transgenic tobacco plants. The phenotypes suggested that OsDPR restrained the growth of transformed plants. To understand the mechanisms of this suppression effect, cell size and number were compared between transformants and wild-type plants. The cell proliferation rate was lower in OsDPR transgenic BY-2 cells than in wild-type cells, but OsDPR expression did not affect cell size. Moreover, the cell division-related gene CyclinD2.1, which is involved in plant growth, was down-regulated in transgenic tobacco plants. These findings suggested that the novel iron-regulated gene OsDPR is responsible for the nanism phenotype of transgenic seedlings because of the inhibition of plant cell proliferation.