A reactive oxygen species burst causes haploid induction in maize

Authors：Jiang, Chenglin; Sun, Ju; Li, Rui; Yan, Shijuan; Chen, Wei; Guo, Liang; Qin, Guochen; Wang, Pengcheng; Luo, Cheng; Huang, Wenjie; Zhang, Qinghua; Fernie, Alisdair R.; Jackson, David; Li, Xiang^*; Yan, Jianbing^*

Source：Molecular Plant, 2022, 15(6): 943-955.

DOI：10.1016/j.molp.2022.04.001

• haploid induction
• single-cell sequencing
• maize
• ROS
• peroxidase

Haploid induction (HI) is an important tool in crop breeding. Phospholipase A1 (ZmPLA1)/NOT LIKE DAD (NLD)/MATRILINEAL (MTL) is a key gene controlling HI in maize; however, the underlying molecular mech-anism remains unclear. In this study, to dissect why loss of ZmPLA1 function could mediate HI we per -formed a comprehensive multiple omics analysis of zmpla1 mutant anthers by integrating transcriptome, metabolome, quantitative proteome, and protein modification data. Functional classes of significantly en-riched or differentially abundant molecular entities were found to be associated with the oxidative stress response, suggesting that a reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst plays a critical role in HI. In support of this, we further discovered that a simple chemical treatment of pollen with ROS reagents could lead to HI. Moreover, we identified ZmPOD65, which encodes a sperm-specific peroxidase, as a new gene control-ling HI. Taken together, our study revealed a likely mechanism of HI, discovered a new gene controlling HI, and created a new method for HI in maize, indicating the importance of ROS balance in maintaining normal reproduction and providing a potential route to accelerate crop breeding.

• Institution
  1; 中国科学院; 华中农业大学; 广东省农业科学院