Anatomy and ultrastructure of embryonic leaves of the C4 species Setaria viridis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Setaria viridis is being promoted as a model C4 photosynthetic plant because it has a small genome (~515 Mb), a short life cycle (~60 d) and it can be transformed. Unlike other C4 grasses such as maize, however, there is very little information about how C4 leaf anatomy (Kranz anatomy) develops in S. viridis. As a foundation for future developmental genetic studies, we provide an anatomical and ultrastructural framework of early shoot development in S. viridis, focusing on the initiation of Kranz anatomy in seed leaves.

METHODS

Setaria viridis seeds were germinated and divided into five stages covering development from the dry seed (stage S0) to 36 h after germination (stage S4). Material at each of these stages was examined using conventional light, scanning and transmission electron microscopy.

KEY RESULTS

Dry seeds contained three embryonic leaf primordia at different developmental stages (plastochron 1-3 primordia). The oldest (P3) leaf primordium possessed several procambial centres whereas P2 displayed only ground meristem. At the tip of P3 primordia at stage S4, C4 leaf anatomy typical of the malate dehydrogenase-dependent nicotinamide dinucleotide phosphate (NADP-ME) subtype was evident in that vascular bundles lacked a mestome layer and were surrounded by a single layer of bundle sheath cells that contained large, centrifugally located chloroplasts. Two to three mesophyll cells separated adjacent vascular bundles and one mesophyll cell layer on each of the abaxial and adaxial sides delimited vascular bundles from the epidermis.

CONCLUSIONS

The morphological trajectory reported here provides a foundation for studies of gene regulation during early leaf development in S. viridis and a framework for comparative analyses with other C4 grasses.

Making Roots, Shoots, and Seeds: IDD Gene Family Diversification in Plants

The INDETERMINATE DOMAIN (IDD) family of transcriptional regulators controls a diversity of processes in a variety of plant tissues and organs and at different stages of plant development. Several recent reports describe the genetic characterization of IDD family members, including those that are likely to regulate C₄ kranz anatomy, with implications for the engineering of C₄ traits into C₃ crops. In this review we summarize the reported functions of IDD members in the regulation of metabolic sensing and leaf, root, seed, and inflorescence development. We also provide an IDD phylogeny for the grasses and suggest future directions and strategies to define the function of IDDs in C₄ photosynthesis and other developmental processes.

Two forward genetic screens for vein density mutants in sorghum converge on a cytochrome P450 gene in the brassinosteroid pathway

The specification of vascular patterning in plants has interested plant biologists for many years. In the last decade a new context has emerged for this interest. Specifically, recent proposals to engineer C(4) traits into C(3) plants such as rice require an understanding of how the distinctive venation pattern in the leaves of C(4) plants is determined. High vein density with Kranz anatomy, whereby photosynthetic cells are arranged in encircling layers around vascular bundles, is one of the major traits that differentiate C(4) species from C(3) species. To identify genetic factors that specify C(4) leaf anatomy, we generated ethyl methanesulfonate- and γ-ray-mutagenized populations of the C(4) species sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and screened for lines with reduced vein density. Two mutations were identified that conferred low vein density. Both mutations segregated in backcrossed F(2) populations as homozygous recessive alleles. Bulk segregant analysis using next-generation sequencing revealed that, in both cases, the mutant phenotype was associated with mutations in the CYP90D2 gene, which encodes an enzyme in the brassinosteroid biosynthesis pathway. Lack of complementation in allelism tests confirmed this result. These data indicate that the brassinosteroid pathway promotes high vein density in the sorghum leaf, and suggest that differences between C(4) and C(3) leaf anatomy may arise in part through differential activity of this pathway in the two leaf types.

Functional characterization of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase-type C4 leaf anatomy: immuno-, cytochemical and ultrastructural analyses

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Species having C4 photosynthesis belonging to the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEP-CK) subtype, which are found only in family Poaceae, have the most complex biochemistry among the three C4 subtypes. In this study, biochemical (western blots and immunolocalization of some key photosynthetic enzymes) and structural analyses were made on several species to further understand the PEP-CK system. This included PEP-CK-type C4 species Urochloa texana (subfamily Panicoideae), Spartina alterniflora and S. anglica (subfamily Chloridoideae), and an NADP-ME-type C4 species, Echinochloa frumentacea, which has substantial levels of PEP-CK.

KEY RESULTS

Urochloa texana has typical Kranz anatomy with granal chloroplasts scattered around the cytoplasm in bundle sheath (BS) cells, while the Spartina spp. have BS forming long adaxial extensions above the vascular tissue and with chloroplasts in a strictly centrifugal position. Despite some structural and size differences, in all three PEP-CK species the chloroplasts in mesophyll and BS cells have a similar granal index (% appressed thylakoids). Immunolocalization studies show PEP-CK (which catalyses ATP-dependent decarboxylation) is located in the cytosol, and NAD-ME in the mitochondria, in BS cells, and in the BS extensions of Spartina. In the NADP-ME species E. frumentacea, PEP-CK is also located in the cytosol of BS cells, NAD-ME is very low, and the source of ATP to support PEP-CK is not established.

CONCLUSIONS

Representative PEP-CK species from two subfamilies of polyphyletic origin have very similar biochemistry, compartmentation and chloroplast grana structure. Based on the results with PEP-CK species, schemes are presented with mesophyll and BS chloroplasts providing equivalent reductive power which show bioenergetics of carbon assimilation involving C4 cycles (PEP-CK and NAD-ME, the latter functioning to generate ATP to support the PEP-CK reaction), and the consequences of any photorespiration.