Maize Dek33 encodes a pyrimidine reductase in riboflavin biosynthesis that is essential for oil-body formation and ABA biosynthesis during seed development.

ABSTRACT: The maize (Zea mays) defective kernel 33 (dek33) mutant produces defective and occasionally viviparous kernel phenotypes. In this study, we cloned Dek33 by positional cloning and found that it encodes a pyrimidine reductase in riboflavin biosynthesis. In dek33, a single-base mutation (G to A) in the C-terminal COG3236 domain caused a premature stop codon (TGA), producing a weak mutant allele with only a truncated form of the DEK33 protein that occurred at much lower levels that the completed WT form, and with a reduced riboflavin content. The dek33 mutation significantly affected oil-body formation and suppressed endoreduplication. It also disrupted ABA biosynthesis, resulting in lower ABA content that might be responsible for the viviparous embryo. In addition, our results indicated that

SUBMITTER: Dai D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6793443 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature