Nα-Acetyltransferases 10 and 15 are required for the correct initiation of endosperm cellularization in Arabidopsis

Abstract

The endosperm and embryo originate from the fertilized central cell and egg cell through a programmed series of cell division and differentiation events. Characterization of more vital genes involved in endosperm and embryo development can help us to understand the regulatory mechanism in more depth. In this study, we found that loss of NAA10 and NAA15, the catalytic and auxiliary subunits of Arabidopsis thaliana N-terminal acetyltransferase A (AtNatA), respectively, led to severely delayed and incomplete endosperm cellularization, accompanied by disordered cell division in the early embryo. Studies on the marker genes/lines of the endosperm (AGL62-GFP, pDD19::GFP, pDD22::NLS-GFP and N9185) and embryo (STM, FIL, SCR and WOX5) in naa10/naa15 mutants showed that expression patterns of these markers were significantly affected, which were tightly associated with the defective feature of endosperm cellularization and embryo cell differentiation. Subsequently, embryonic complementation rescued the abortive embryos, but failed to initiate endosperm cellularization properly, further confirming the essential role of AtNatA in both endosperm and embryo development. Moreover, repression of AGL62 in naa10 and naa15 restored the endosperm cellularization, suggesting that NAA10/NAA15 functions in initiation of endosperm cellularization by inhibiting the expression of AGL62 in Arabidopsis. Therefore, NAA10 and NAA15 could be considered as crucial factors involved in promoting endosperm cellularization in Arabidopsis.