Obtusifoliol 14α-demethylase OsCYP51G1 is involved in phytosterol synthesis and affects pollen and seed development

As structural components of biological membranes, phytosterols are essential not only for a variety of cellular functions but are also precursors for brassinosteroid (BR) biosynthesis. Plant CYP51 is the oldest and most conserved obtusifoliol 14α-demethylase in eukaryotes and is an essential component of the sterol biosynthesis pathway. However, little is known about rice (Oryza sativa L.) CYP51G1. In this study, we showed that rice OsCYP51G1 shared high homology with obtusifoliol 14α-demethylase and OsCYP51G1 was strongly expressed in most of rice organs. Subcellular localization analysis indicated that OsCYP51G1 was localized to the endoplasmic reticulum. Knockdown and knockout of OsCYP51G1 resulted in delayed flowering, impaired membrane integrity, abnormal pollen, and reduced grain yield, whereas OsCYP51G1 overexpression led to increased grain yield. Knockdown of OsCYP51G1 also reduced the levels of end-products (sitosterol and stigmasterol) and increased those of upstream intermediates (24-methylene-cycloartenol and cycloeucalenol) of the OsCYP51G1-mediated sterol biosynthesis step. In contrast, overexpression of OsCYP51G1 increased the sitosterol and stigmasterol content and reduced that of cycloeucalenol. However, knockdown of OsCYP51G1 by RNAi did not elicit these BR deficiency-related phenotypes, such as dwarfism, erect leaves and small seeds, nor was the leaf lamina angle sensitive to brassinolide treatment. These results revealed that rice OsCYP15G1 encodes an obtusifoliol 14α-demethylase for the phytosterols biosynthesis and possible without affecting the biosynthesis of downstream BRs, which was different from its homolog, OsCYP51G3.

Keywords: Functional differentiation; Oryza sativa L.; OsCYP51G1; OsCYP51G3; Phytosterol.