Homologs of animal eyes absent (eya) genes are found in higher plants

Homologs of the eyes absent (eya) gene in animals function at multiple stages in the development of organs. Their functional roles in the genetic network that regulates eye development in Drosophila have recently been extensively analyzed. A rice homolog of eya was identified from a cDNA library made from embryo RNA. The corresponding gene (OSEya1) encodes a conserved ED1 domain and a short N-terminal peptide. The ED1 domain of OSEya1 shows 25% identity and 36% similarity to the product of Drosophila eya. Mammalian and squid eya homologs show about 35% similarity to OSEya1. Homologous sequences were also found in the alfalfa EST database (53% identity and 65% similarity to OSEya1) and in the Arabidopsis genome sequence (63% identity). Therefore, eya homologs are present in both monocots and dicots. Three regions in the ED1 domain are well conserved in animals and plants. Plant eya products deduced from the nucleotide sequences also have short N-terminal peptides. The OSEya1 gene is located between the wx gene and the telomere on the short arm of chromosome 6. OSEya1 is expressed in the embryo, shoot apex, and caryopsis in rice. Expression in the embryo increases during embryogenesis until 7 days after pollination, with preferential localization in leaf primordia and the shoot apical meristem. Expression in the influorescence was observed in floral meristems. The functions of OSEya1 in higher plants are discussed and compared with those of their animal homologs. OSEya1 might regulate the morphogenesis of lateral organs as a subunit of a transcription factor.