J Integr Plant Biol ›› 2025, Vol. 67 ›› Issue (5): 1413-1427.DOI: 10.1111/jipb.13846

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  • 收稿日期:2024-10-17 接受日期:2024-12-27 出版日期:2025-05-01 发布日期:2025-05-12

ALBA3 maintains male fertility under heat stress in plants

Dong Ci1,2, Yi Liu3, Lishuan Wang2, Ruixian Zhu2, Yong Chen4, Ge Bai4, Ziyan Xu5,6, Huanbin Zhou5, Xueping Zhou5,6, Liu‐Min Fan3* and Weiqiang Qian2,4*   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Wheat Improvement, Peking University Institute of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Shandong Laboratory of Advanced Agricultural Sciences in Weifang, Weifang 261325, China
    2. School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
    3. State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
    4. Beijing Life Science Academy, Beijing 102299, China
    5. State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
    6. State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China

    *Correspondences: Liu‐Min Fan (lmfan@pku.edu.cn); Weiqiang Qian (wqqian@pku.edu.cn, Dr. Qian is fully responsible for the distribution of all materials associated with this article)
  • Received:2024-10-17 Accepted:2024-12-27 Online:2025-05-01 Published:2025-05-12
  • Supported by:
    We thank Dr. Qi‐Jun Chen for providing the CRISPR/Cas9 system. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32170285 to L.‐M.F. and 32270288 to W.Q.) and Beijing Life Science Academy (BLSA; 2024500CA0010).

Abstract: Heat stress (HS) at the reproductive stage detrimentally affects crop yields and seed quality. However, the molecular mechanisms that protect reproductive processes in plants under HS remain largely unknown. Here, we report that Acetylation Lowers Binding Affinity 3 (ALBA3) is crucial for safeguarding male fertility against HS in Arabidopsis. ALBA3 is highly expressed in pollen, and ALBA3 is localized in the cytoplasm of both sperm and vegetative cells. Mutants lacking functional ALBA3 exhibit hypersensitivity to HS, with reduced silique length and fertility due to defects in pollen germination, pollination, pollen tube growth, and fertilization under HS. ALBA3 binds and stabilizes a subset of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) essential for pollen function, thereby protecting male fertility. Two residues in the Alba domain, K46 and L90, are critical for ALBA3's ability to bind and stabilize mRNAs and are necessary for its proper function. Interestingly, the loss of rice ALBA3 also leads to severe pollen abortion and male sterility under HS, highlighting the conserved role of ALBA3 in protecting male fertility across plant species. This study uncovers a conserved mechanism by which ALBA3 safeguards male fertility during HS by stabilizing specific mRNAs crucial for pollen function.

Key words: Alba domain, heat stress, male fertility, pollen, RNA stability

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