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PtWOX11 acts as master regulator conducting the expression of key transcription factors to induce de novo shoot organogenesis in poplar

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WUSCHEL-RELATED HOMEOBOX 11 establishes the acquisition of pluripotency during callus formation and accomplishes de novo shoot formation by regulating key transcription factors in poplar.

Abstract

De novo shoot regeneration is a prerequisite for propagation and genetic engineering of elite cultivars in forestry. However, the regulatory mechanism of de novo organogenesis is poorly understood in tree species. We previously showed that WUSCHEL (WUS)-RELATED HOMEOBOX 11 (PtWOX11) of the hybrid poplar clone 84K (Populus alba × P. glandulosa) promotes de novo root formation. In this study, we found that PtWOX11 also regulates de novo shoot regeneration in poplar. The overexpression of PtWOX11 enhanced de novo shoot formation, whereas overexpression of PtWOX11 fused with the transcriptional repressor domain (PtWOX11-SRDX) or reduced expression of PtWOX11 inhibited this process, indicating that PtWOX11 promotes de novo shoot organogenesis. Although PtWOX11 promotes callus formation, overexpression of PtWOX11 and PtWOX11-SRDX also produced increased and decreased numbers of de novo shoots per unit weight, respectively, implying that PtWOX11 promotes de novo shoot organogenesis partially by regulating the intrinsic mechanism of shoot development. RNA-seq and qPCR analysis further revealed that PtWOX11 activates the expression of PLETHORA1 (PtPLT1) and PtPLT2, whose Arabidopsis paralogs establish the acquisition of pluripotency, during incubation on callus-inducing medium. Moreover, PtWOX11 activates the expression of shoot-promoting factors and meristem regulators such as CUP-SHAPED COTYLEDON2 (PtCUC2), PtCUC3, WUS and SHOOT MERISTEMLESS to fulfill shoot regeneration during incubation on shoot-inducing medium. These results suggest that PtWOX11 acts as a central regulator of the expression of key genes to cause de novo shoot formation. Our studies further provide a possible means to genetically engineer economically important tree species for their micropropagation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Lin Xu (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai) and Momoko Ikeuchi (RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science) for critical comments on this study. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 31500548 to BL and 31650110478 to YO), Developmental Program for Distinguished Young Scholars of Fujian Province (2017 to BL), Natural Science Foundation of Fujian province, China (Grant 2017J01605 to YO) and by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grants 2016YFD0600106 to LG). The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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  1. Bobin Liu and Jin Zhang have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Forestry, Basic Forestry and Proteomics Research Center, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, Fujian, China

    Bobin Liu, Zhaohe Yang, Shubin Li, Xinyang Yan, Markus V. Kohnen, Lianfeng Gu & Yoshito Oka

  2. State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, 100091, China

    Jin Zhang & Mengzhu Lu

  3. RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Yokohama, 230-0045, Japan

    Akihiro Matsui, Motoaki Seki & Yoshito Oka

  4. School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, 695016, India

    Kalika Prasad

  5. Bioscience Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

    Jin Zhang & Gerald A. Tuskan

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  1. Bobin Liu
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Contributions

BL performed all the constructions, transformations and experiments and wrote the draft of the manuscript. JZ, MK and LG performed the analysis of the transcriptome data. ZY helped harvest the samples and conducted qPCR. XY and SL assisted with tissue culture, DNA binding and transactivation assay. BL, KP, AM, MS,GAT and YO analyzed the data. ML conceived the project, and YO supervised all experiments and analyses and critically revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Mengzhu Lu or Yoshito Oka.

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Accession Numbers

The RNA-seq data are available through the Gene Expression Omnibus (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo); the accession number is GSE101922. The sequence data obtained in this study can be found in the P. trichocarpa genome database (version 3.0); the accession numbers are provided in Table S5.

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Liu, B., Zhang, J., Yang, Z. et al. PtWOX11 acts as master regulator conducting the expression of key transcription factors to induce de novo shoot organogenesis in poplar. Plant Mol Biol 98, 389–406 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-018-0786-x

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