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Online ISSN : 2349-8080 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorinchiefijcrbp@gmail.com |
OsiEZ1 is a member of evolutionary conserved Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) group of proteins which participate in stable maintenance of repressive states of genes on which they act upon. It belongs to Enhancer of Zeste (E(Z)) class, the proteins which carry the SET domain having histone methyltransferase activity. The PRC2 complex components and other SET-domain containing proteins act in a multitude of developmental processes in plants. The prominent aspects of plant life controlled by them include vegetative to floral transition, maintenance of meristem identity, vernalization; and gametophyte and seed development. To ascertain the role of OsiEZ1 gene in plant development, antisense transgenics were constructed in Oryza sativa L. subspecies indica (var. Pusa Basmati 1) to partially suppress the functions of the endogenous gene. Some significant phenotypic changes were observed among a fraction of the R1 and R2 generation of OsiEZ1 antisense transgenic plants, with respect to the wild-type plants. The phenotypic differences observed were curling of leaves and multiple shoot formation at young seedling stages. Some of the transgenic plants (both in R1 and R2 generations) exhibited lethal phenotypes with profuse root growth, multiple shoot formation, dwarfism and leaf-senescence progressing from the tip to the base of the plant. Our preliminary studies definitely indicate that OsiEZ1 plays some important role in controlling early development in Pusa Basmati 1 rice plants.
