Programmed cell death is essential for the development of multicellular organisms, yet pathways of plant programmed cell death and its regulation remain elusive. Here we report that ETERNAL TAPETUM 1, a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor conserved in land plants, positively regulates programmed cell death in tapetal cells in rice anthers. eat1 exhibits delayed tapetal cell death and aborted pollen formation. ETERNAL TAPETUM 1 directly regulates the expression of OsAP25 and OsAP37, which encode aspartic proteases that induce programmed cell death in both yeast and plants. Expression and genetic analyses revealed that ETERNAL TAPETUM 1 acts downstream of TAPETUM DEGENERATION RETARDATION, another positive regulator of tapetal programmed cell death, and that ETERNAL TAPETUM 1 can also interact with the TAPETUM DEGENERATION RETARDATION protein. This study demonstrates that ETERNAL TAPETUM 1 promotes aspartic proteases triggering plant programmed cell death, and reveals a dynamic regulatory cascade in male reproductive development in rice.

The Arabidopsis thaliana ABORTED MICROSPORES (AMS) gene encodes a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor that is required for tapetal cell development and postmeiotic microspore formation. However, the regulatory role of AMS in anther and pollen development has not been fully defined. Here, we show by microarray analysis that the expression of 549 anther-expressed genes was altered in ams buds and that these genes are associated with tapetal function and pollen wall formation. We demonstrate that AMS has the ability to bind in vitro to DNA containing a 6-bp consensus motif, CANNTG. Moreover, 13 genes involved in transportation of lipids, oligopeptides, and ions, fatty acid synthesis and metabolism, flavonol accumulation, substrate oxidation, methyl-modification, and pectin dynamics were identified as direct targets of AMS by chromatin immunoprecipitation. The functional importance of the AMS regulatory pathway was further demonstrated by analysis of an insertional mutant of one of these downstream AMS targets, an ABC transporter, WhiteBrown Complex homolog, which fails to undergo pollen development and is male sterile. Yeast two-hybrid screens and pulldown assays revealed that AMS has the ability to interact with two bHLH proteins (AtbHLH089 and AtbHLH091) and the ATA20 protein. These results provide insight into the regulatory role of the AMS network during anther development.

SummaryWe report here the molecular characterisation of the Arabidopsis MALE STERILITY1 gene, which is a critical sporophytic controlling factor for anther and pollen development. Homozygous ms1 mutants do not produce viable pollen, but are otherwise phenotypically normal. Degeneration of pollen occurs soon after microspore release from the tetrads, at which time the tapetum also appears abnormally vacuolated. The MS1 gene is expressed at low levels in anthers from closed buds, with expression in the tapetum at the stage of microspore release. No expression is seen in open¯owers. The deduced MS1 protein sequence shows strong homology to the PHD-®nger motif found in known transcription factors from humans, yeast and higher plants. Six alleles of ms1 have been identi®ed; all result in premature termination of the MS1 protein and loss of the PHD-®nger motif. MS1 is likely to play a key role in regulating transcription during speci®c stages of male gametogenesis and anther development. As such, MS1 provides a valuable tool for the manipulation of male sterility in higher plants.

In higher plants, timely degradation of tapetal cells, the innermost sporophytic cells of the anther wall layer, is a prerequisite for the development of viable pollen grains. However, relatively little is known about the mechanism underlying programmed tapetal cell development and degradation. Here, we report a key regulator in monocot rice (Oryza sativa), PERSISTANT TAPETAL CELL1 (PTC1), which controls programmed tapetal development and functional pollen formation. The evolutionary significance of PTC1 was revealed by partial genetic complementation of the homologous mutation MALE STERILITY1 (MS1) in the dicot Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). PTC1 encodes a PHD-finger (for plant homeodomain) protein, which is expressed specifically in tapetal cells and microspores during anther development in stages 8 and 9, when the wild-type tapetal cells initiate a typical apoptosis-like cell death. Even though ptc1 mutants show phenotypic similarity to ms1 in a lack of tapetal DNA fragmentation, delayed tapetal degeneration, as well as abnormal pollen wall formation and aborted microspore development, the ptc1 mutant displays a previously unreported phenotype of uncontrolled tapetal proliferation and subsequent commencement of necrosis-like tapetal death. Microarray analysis indicated that 2,417 tapetum-and microspore-expressed genes, which are principally associated with tapetal development, degeneration, and pollen wall formation, had changed expression in ptc1 anthers. Moreover, the regulatory role of PTC1 in anther development was revealed by comparison with MS1 and other rice anther developmental regulators. These findings suggest a diversified and conserved switch of PTC1/MS1 in regulating programmed male reproductive development in both dicots and monocots, which provides new insights in plant anther development.