Elucidation of novel synthetic lethality "Forced double suicide" in plants

Research Project

Project/Area Number	15K14563
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Morphology/Structure
Research Institution	Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
Principal Investigator	Kazama Yusuke 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 仁科加速器研究センター, 協力研究員 (80442945)
Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha)	ABE Hiroshi 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 仁科加速器研究センター, 先任技師 (90201897) ISHII Kotaro 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 仁科加速器研究センター, 協力研究員 (80442945)
Project Period (FY)	2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000) Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000) Fiscal Year 2015: ¥2,730,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥630,000)
Keywords	配偶子 / 合成致死 / 植物 / 配偶子形成
Outline of Final Research Achievements	When two certain mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana were crossed, a non-Mendelian inheritance was observed. Double mutants were not produced as well as the wild type plants. This phenomenon can be explained if the presence of Synthetic Forced Double Suicide (SFDS) is assumed, in which gametes having both mutations resulted in death together with the death of wild-type gametes. The microscopic observation revealed that a gametic lethality started by the DNA digestion of the gametic cells. Products of both genes had a DNA-binding activity. One of the mutations was loss of function, and the other was over-expression of the transcript due to a deletion of its cis element. These findings indicate that both mutation caused SFDS.