The rice pentatricopeptide repeat protein PPR756 is involved in pollen development by affecting multiple RNA editing in mitochondria

Abstract

In land plants, the pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins form a large family involved in post-transcriptional processing of RNA in mitochondria and chloroplasts, which is critical for plant development and evolutionary adaption. Although studies showed a number of PPR proteins generally influence the editing of organellar genes, few of them were characterized in detail in rice. Here, we report a PLS-E subclass PPR protein in rice, PPR756, loss of function of which led to the abolishment of RNA editing events among three mitochondrial genes including atp6, ccmC, and nad7. Their defective C-to-U transformation then resulted in improper amino acid retention which could cause abortive pollen development. Furthermore, PPR756 could bind to the three target genes directly and interact with three OsMORFs (multiple organellar RNA editing factors): OsMORF1, OsMORF8-1, and OsMORF8-2. The knock-out plants of PPR756 exhibited retarded growth and greener leaves during the early vegetative stages, along with sterile pollen and lower seed setting at the reproductive stage. These results established a role for PPR756 in rice development, participating in RNA editing of three various transcripts and cooperating with OsMORFs via an editosome manner in rice.