Cloning and Characterization of Protein Prenyltransferase Alpha Subunit in Rice

Protein prenylation plays a crucial role in plant development and stress response.We report the function of pren yltra nsferase a-sub unit in rice.Protein-protei n in teractions showed that the fam esyl-transferase(OsPFT)/geranylgeranyltransferase-l(OsPGGT l-a)protein interacted together with OsPFT-P and OsPGGT l-p.The a-and p-subunits of OsPFT formed a heterodimer for the transfer of a farnesyl group from famesyl pyrophosphate to the CaaX-box-containing peptide N-dansyl-GCVLS.Furthermore,the tissue expressi on patter ns of the OsPFT and OsPGGT I sub units were similar,and these sub units were localized in the cytoplasm and nucleus.Moreover,OsPFT/OsPGGT/-a-deletion homozygous rice mutants had a lethal phenotype,and the heterozygous mutants exhibited reduced pollen viability.These results indicated that prenylation plays an important role in rice development.