Identification and molecular characterization of a low acid phosphatase 3 (lap3) mutant based on the screening of an Arabidopsis activation-tagged population

Abstract

A low acid phosphatase 3 (lap3) mutant was identified and characterized from an Arabidopsis activation-tagged (Weigel) population. The roots of the lap3 plants showed lower acid phosphatase (APase) activity compared to wild-type ones under low-Pi conditions (10 lM Pi). Plasmid rescue experiments revealed that the activation-tagging vector was inserted into the intergenic region between At4g31540 and At4g31550 in the Arabidopsis genome. The genotypic segregation of the lap3 mutation was tightly linked with the phenotypic segregation of root APase activity in the prgeny of lap3. The transcript level of the At4g31520 (SDA1: SEVERE DEPOLYMERIZATION OF ACTIN 1), located 7.4 kb from the CaMV 35S enhancers in the lap3 mutant, was significantly reduced compared to that in the wild type. It was speculated that cellular actin polymerization may be involved in Pi acquisition in higher plants.