Maraschin, F. d. S. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2025

Double knockout of rice OsVIT1 and OsVIT2 genes reveals a trade-off between iron biofortification and iron excess tolerance

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a staple food for half of the worlds population, but lacks essential nutrients such as iron (Fe). Fe deficiency is one of the most common nutritional problems in humans, and biofortification of rice grains is a cost-effective approach to deliver more Fe to peoples diet. Two Vacuolar Iron Transporters, OsVIT1 and OsVIT2, were shown to negatively regulate Fe translocation to rice developing panicles, as single mutants osvit1 and osvit2 have increased Fe concentration in seeds. Importantly, rice plants are frequently cultivated in waterlogged soils that are highly reductive and prone to Fe3+ reduction to the more soluble Fe2+, which can accumulate and cause Fe toxicity. Little is known about which genes control Fe excess detoxification. OsVIT1 and OsVIT2 transport Fe into the vacuole, and OsVIT2 is induced under Fe excess, but whether they play a role in Fe detoxification was not demonstrated. We generated double mutants osvit1osvit2 using CRISPR-Cas9 to test whether loss of function of both genes could increase Fe concentration in seeds, and to test whether their loss of function has impact in rice Fe excess tolerance. We showed that osvit1osvit2 double mutants accumulated more Fe in brown rice. Fe accumulation was clear in embryo scutellum and plumule, suggesting VIT transporters have a role in determining Fe spatial distribution. We also showed that root uptake contributed significantly for increased Fe accumulation in osvit1osvit2 seeds, suggesting OsVIT1 and OsVIT2 are involved in sequestering Fe in vegetative tissues and decreasing translocation. Strikingly, we found that osvit1osvit2 plants were more sensitive to Fe excess, revealing a trade-off between Fe biofortification and Fe excess tolerance. Our data indicates OsVIT1 and OsVIT2 are key for Fe excess detoxification, which should be considered in their use as targets for biofortification.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2022

A survey of transcriptomic datasets identifies ABA-responsive factors as regulators of photomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis

Following germination, seedlings grown in light show a photomorphogenic development with open and green cotyledons and a robust root system. The light perception by the photoreceptors activate autotrophic photosynthetic metabolism to sustain growth of the whole plant. Several studies have evaluated transcriptional responses to light signals. Nevertheless, evaluating a single source experiment might bias the identificationof general, reproducible light responses. In order to identify widespread light-dependent signaling events that control early seedling photomorphogenesis we performed a survey comparing commonly regulated genes in transcriptomic public datasets derived from etiolated seedlings exposed to short light treatments. By compiling commonly regulated genes from different datasets, we obtained broadly representative regulated processes concerning general light transcriptional response. Our analysis shows that light primarly affects shoot gene expression promoting the assembly of photosynthetic machinery, signaling and redox responses. We observed that Transcriptograms allowed a better comparison among different experiments than DEseq analysis. We also identified that, transcriptional regulation of early light response is centered in the transcription factor ABA-Insensitive5 (ABI5) along with other bZIP transcription factors suggesting a mechanism by which dark expressed transcription factors guide the activation of early photomorphogenic genes. Key MessageComparative analisys of seedling deetiolation transcriptomic datasets identified ABA-responsive bZIP transcription factors as central regulators of early photomorphogenesis

plant biology↗