Overexpression of NHL6 affects seed production in transgenic Arabidopsis plants

2019 
In higher plants, NHL (NDR1/HIN1-like) genes play important roles in response to both biotic and abiotic stresses. However, their biological functions in plant growth and development are largely unknown. Previously, we identified an NHL6 gene from Arabidopsis. Overexpression of NHL6 inhibited seed germination under abiotic stress conditions. In this work, we demonstrate that NHL6 also has a function in seed development. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing NHL6 produced shorter siliques and fewer seeds per silique, but increased seed size, leading to decreased seed yield per plant. Pollen viability and meiosis studies did not show any difference between wild type and transgenic plants. In a yeast-two-hybrid screening, a tubby-like F-box protein AtTLP11 was identified as a potential interacting protein of NHL6, which was negatively correlated with NHL6 expression. Our results reveal a critical role of NHL gene in the seed development and a possible connection between NHL and AtTLP families in plants.
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