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Title: Necrotic upper tips1 mimics heat and drought stress and encodes a protoxylem-specific transcription factor in maize
Maintaining sufficient water transport during flowering is essential for proper organ growth, fertilization, and yield. Water deficits that coincide with flowering result in leaf wilting, necrosis, tassel browning, and sterility, a stress condition known as “tassel blasting.” We identified a mutant, necrotic upper tips1 ( nut1 ), that mimics tassel blasting and drought stress and reveals the genetic mechanisms underlying these processes. The nut1 phenotype is evident only after the floral transition, and the mutants have difficulty moving water as shown by dye uptake and movement assays. These defects are correlated with reduced protoxylem vessel thickness that indirectly affects metaxylem cell wall integrity and function in the mutant. nut1 is caused by an Ac transposon insertion into the coding region of a unique NAC transcription factor within the VND clade of Arabidopsis . NUT1 localizes to the developing protoxylem of root, stem, and leaf sheath, but not metaxylem, and its expression is induced by flowering. NUT1 downstream target genes function in cell wall biosynthesis, apoptosis, and maintenance of xylem cell wall thickness and strength. These results show that maintaining protoxylem vessel integrity during periods of high water movement requires the expression of specialized, dynamically regulated transcription factors within the vasculature.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1836017 1916804
NSF-PAR ID:
10200154
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Volume:
117
Issue:
34
ISSN:
0027-8424
Page Range / eLocation ID:
20908 to 20919
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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