Chloroplast is the main organelle for photosynthesis in plants. Rice leaves are the main sites for photosynthesis and the production of organic matter. Chloroplast is mainly in the plant leaves and the development of chloroplast closely related to leaves developmental. Therefore, mining more genes about chloroplast development can better for dissection of chloroplast regulation network. The appearance of white fine stripe in rice leaves had a great effect on the photosynthesis and dry matter accumulation. Although there are a large number of leaf color genes were cloned, but the cloning and functional study of white fine stripe leaf gene is rarely reported.

Recently, China National Rice Research Institute (CNRRI), Hangzhou Normal University successfully identified a white fine stripe leaf 1 (wfsl1) mutant. TEM analysis showed that mutant had three types of cells and chloroplast was impaired. Further investigation revealed that photosynthesis in wfsl1 was decline and affected rice yield. The WFSL1 gene was cloned on chromosome 1 using map-basedcloning approach. It encodes a metal-dependent phosphohydrolase with an Hd domain. WFSL1 is predominantly expressed in green tissues such as mature leaves and sheath. RNA-Seq analysis revealed that most of chloroplast development genes down-regulated in wfsl1. Functional analysis revealed that mutation of WFSL1 decreased the total protein of chloroplast-encoding proteins. In addition, mutation of WFSL1 affected chloroplast ribosome biogenesis. This research indicates that WFSL1 play an important role in chloroplast development. These findings reveal a new molecular mechanism for chloroplast development mediated by WFSL1 gene.

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation of China, Hangzhou Scientific and Technological Program, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation. The research findings has been published in Scientific Reports online on 12th, June, 2017 (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-03327-2). More details are available on the links bellow: www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-03327-2.