Changes in the expression pattern of OsWUS negatively regulate plant stature and panicle development in rice

WUSCHEL (WUS) and WUSCHEL-RELATED HOMEOBOX (WOX) encode transcription factors and play important roles in regulating the formation and maintenance of shoot and floral meristems. OsWUS have distinct functions in meristem development with slightly tuned expression. However, the mechanisms regulating the specific expression of OsWUS need to be further explored. In this study, an abnormal expression mutant of OsWUS, called Dwarf and aberrant panicle 1 (Dap1) was used. In order to identify the causal gene in Dap1, high-efficiency thermal asymmetric interlaced (hiTAIL)-PCR and co-segregation analysis were performed. We surveyed the growth and yield traits in Dap1 and wild type. Changes in gene expression between Dap1 and wild type were determined by RNA-seq. The Dap1 mutant is due to the T-DNA inserted at 3,628-bp upstream of the translation start codon of OsWUS. Plant height, tiller numbers, panicle length, the number of grains per main panicle, and the number of secondary branches was significantly reduced in the Dap1 mutant. The expression of OsWUS was markedly increased in Dap1 mutant plants compared to the wild type, which might be due to a disruption in the genomic sequence integrity. Simultaneously, the expression levels of gibberellic acid-related genes and genes involved in panicle development were significantly changed in the Dap1 mutant. Our results suggest that OsWUS is a precise regulatory element, its specific spatio-temporal expression pattern is critical for its function, and both loss-of-function and gain-of-function mutations lead to abnormal plant growth.