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Control of meristem determinacy by trehalose 6-phosphate phosphatases is uncoupled from enzymatic activity

Abstract

Meristem fate is regulated by trehalose 6-phosphate phosphatases (TPPs), but their mechanism of action remains mysterious. Loss of the maize TPPs RAMOSA3 and TPP4 leads to reduced meristem determinacy and more inflorescence branching. However, analysis of an allelic series revealed no correlation between enzymatic activity and branching, and a catalytically inactive version of RA3 complements the ra3 mutant. Together with their nuclear localization, these findings suggest a moonlighting function for TPPs.

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Fig. 1: TPP4 acts as a redundant backup for RA3.
Fig. 2: TPP enzymatic activity does not correlate with ear branching phenotype.
Fig. 3: RA3 localizes to nuclear and cytoplasmic speckles.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank P. Van Dijck for sharing the pYX212 vector, K. Rao for discussion of RA3 protein structure, T. Mulligan for plant care, and S. Pouzet, G. Carver and all other Jackson lab summer students for their enthusiastic involvement in some of this work. This work was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation (IOS-1238202 and IOS-1755141), a collaborative agreement with Dupont Pioneer, the European Molecular Biology Organization (Long-Term Fellowship to H.C.) and the Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (under grant number 106-NN.01-2014.48 to S.L.V.). The metabolite analysis was supported by the Max Planck Society (R.F. and J.E.L.).

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Authors

Contributions

H.C. performed all experimental procedures except for those listed below, prepared figures and co-wrote the manuscript. A.G. and S.L.V. isolated and fine-mapped tpp4-1. A.L.E. analysed the tpp4-1 whole-genome sequencing data. X.X. mapped tpp4-3 and tpp4-4. N.S.-N. performed immunolocalizations, under the supervision of H.S. R.F. performed metabolite measurements, under the supervision of J.E.L., who also co-wrote the manuscript. G.A.B. performed modelling of the TPP4 structure, supervised by R.G.B. D.J. supervised the research, assisted with mutant screening and co-wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to David Jackson.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Journal peer review information: Nature Plants thanks Yuling Jiao and other anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Claeys, H., Vi, S.L., Xu, X. et al. Control of meristem determinacy by trehalose 6-phosphate phosphatases is uncoupled from enzymatic activity. Nat. Plants 5, 352–357 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-019-0394-z

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