Putative megaenzyme DWA1 plays essential roles in drought resistance by regulating stress-induced wax deposition in rice.

ABSTRACT: Drought stress is a major limiting factor for crop production. Cuticular wax plays an important role in preventing water loss from drought stress. However, the genetic control of cuticular wax deposition under drought stress conditions has not been characterized. Here, we identified a rice gene Drought-Induced Wax Accumulation 1 (DWA1) encoding a very large protein (2,391 aa in length) containing multiple enzymatic structures, including an oxidoreductase-like domain; a prokaryotic nonribosomal peptide synthetase-like module, including an AMP-binding domain; and an allene oxide synthase-like domain. This previously unreported putative megaenzyme is conserved in vascular plants. A dwa1 KO mutant was highly sensitive to drought stress relative to the WT. DWA1 was preferentially expressed in v

SUBMITTER: Zhu X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3816433 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature