A zinc finger protein, interacted with cyclophilin, affects root development via IAA pathway in rice

The plant hormone auxin plays a crucial role in lateral root development. To better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying lateral root formation, an auxin-responsive gene OsCYP2 (Os02g0121300) was characterized from rice. Compared to the wild type, OsCYP2-RNAi (RNA interference) lines exhibited distinctive defects in lateral root development. Yeast two-hybrid and glutathione S-transferase pull-down results confirmed that OsCYP2 interacted with a C2HC-type zinc finger protein (OsZFP, Os01g0252900) which is located in the rice nucleus. T₂ OsZFP-RNAi lines had significantly fewer lateral roots than did wild-type plants, which suggests a role for OsCYP2 and OsZFP in regulating lateral root development. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction showed that the expression of certain Aux/IAA (auxin/indole-3-acetic acid) genes was altered in OsCYP2- and OsZFP-RNAi lines in response to IAA. These findings imply that OsCYP2 and OsZFP participate in IAA signal pathways controlling lateral root development. More importantly, OsIAA11 showed functional redundancy not only in OsCYP2-RNAi lines but also in OsZFP-RNAi lines, which provides important clues for the elucidation of mechanisms controlling lateral root development in response to auxin.