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The maize callose synthase SLM1 is critical for a normal growth by controlling the vascular development

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Abstract

Callose, mainly deposited at the cell plate and in the newly formed cell wall at a very low level, is critical for cell activity and growth in plants. The genetic control and function of callose synthases, responsible for the synthesis of callose, are largely unknown in maize. In this study, we cloned a maize callose synthase, SLM1 (Seedling Lethal Mutant1) encoding for a GLUCAN SYNTHASE-LIKE (GSL) gene, from a seedling lethal mutant. Three different point mutations confirmed the key role of SLM1 to maintain maize normal growth. SLM1 was specifically expressed in immature leaf vascular with an enrichment in phloem of developing vasculature. Consistently, slm1 had severe defects in vasculature and leaf development, and terminated growth about 2 weeks after germination. Thus, SLM1 is a key gene to maintain normal growth by controlling leaf vascular development and cell activities. Loss of SLM1 function interrupted severely the important signaling pathways in which cell cyclin and histone related genes are involved. Our study reveals the critical function of a maize GSL gene and also its downstream signaling to maintain a normal growth of maize.

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Data availability

All data supporting the results of this study are available within the article and supplementary information files. The RNA-seq data generated in this study have been deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information Short Reads Archive (PRJNA911914).

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for Mr. Jianbo Cao and Miss Lihong Qin (Core Facility for Bioimaging, Huazhong Agricultural University) for their TEM and SEM imaging assistance. We thank the high-performance computing platform at the National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement in Huazhong Agricultural University. We also thank the Maize Genetics COOP Stock Center, professor Chunyi Zhang (The Biotechnology Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences), and Xiaoduo Lu (Qilu Normal University) for proving the mutant seeds for this study.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32172026) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2021ZKPY010).

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  1. Wanshun Zhong and Chang Zheng contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    Wanshun Zhong, Chang Zheng, Liang Dong, Lu Kang & Fang Yang

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  1. Wanshun Zhong
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  2. Chang Zheng
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  3. Liang Dong
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Contributions

Fang Yang and Wanshun Zhong designed the experiments and managed the project. Wanshun Zhong, Cheng Zheng, and Lu Kang performed the experiments. Liang Dong analyzed the RNA-seq data, and Fang Yang and Wanshun Zhong prepared the manuscript. The authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Fang Yang.

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Zhong, W., Zheng, C., Dong, L. et al. The maize callose synthase SLM1 is critical for a normal growth by controlling the vascular development. Mol Breeding 43, 2 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-022-01350-4

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