The DC1 domain protein BINUCLEATE POLLEN is required for pollen development in Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract

The development of the male gametophyte is a tightly regulated process that requires the precise control of cell division and gene expression. A relevant aspect to understand the events underlying pollen development regulation constitutes the identification and characterization of the genes required for this process. In this work, we showed that the DC1 domain protein BINUCLEATE POLLEN (BNP) is essential for pollen development and germination. Pollen grains carrying a defective BNP alleles failed to complete mitosis II and exhibited impaired pollen germination. By yeast two-hybrid analysis and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays, we identified a set of BNP-interacting proteins. Among confirmed interactors, we found the NAC family transcriptional regulators Vascular Plant One-Zinc Finger 1 (VOZ1) and VOZ2. VOZ1 localization changes during pollen development, moving to the vegetative nucleus at the tricellular stage. We observed that this relocalization requires BNP; in the absence of BNP in pollen from bnp/BNP plants, VOZ1 nuclear localization is impaired. As the voz1voz2 double mutants showed the same developmental defect observed in bnp pollen grains, we propose that BNP requirement to complete microgametogenesis could be linked to its interaction with VOZ1/2 proteins. BNP could have the role of a scaffold protein, recruiting VOZ1/2 to the endosomal system into assemblies that are required for their further translocation to the nucleus, where they act as transcriptional regulators.