Does zaxinone counteract strigolactones in shaping rice architecture?

ABSTRACT

The cleavage of plant carotenoids leads to apocarotenoids, a group of metabolites including precursors of the hormones strigolactones (SLs) and abscisic acid, regulatory and signaling molecules. Zaxinone is a recently discovered apocarotenoid growth regulator that improves growth and suppress SL biosynthesis in rice (Oryza sativa). To test if zaxinone also counteracts the growth regulatory effects of SLs in rice, we co-supplied zaxinone and the synthetic SL analog rac-GR24 to the rice SL-deficient DWARF17 (d17) mutant. Results showed that co-application of GR24 and zaxinone still rescued d17 phenotype, indicating that zaxinone and GR24 act independently in regulating root and shoot growth and development in rice.

KEYWORDS:

• Strigolactones
• Zaxinone
• Apocarotenoids
• Rice (Oryza sativa)

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the members of the Bioactives lab in KAUST for their helpful discussions and assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

Author Contributions

S.A.-B. and J.Y.W. proposed the concept and designed the experiments. J.Y.W. and J.B. conducted experiments. J.Y.W., J.B., and S. A.-B. analyzed and discussed the data. All authors read, edited, and approved the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by baseline funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (grant number OPP1136424) given to S. A.-B.