Response regulators play significant roles in controlling various biological processes; however, their roles in plant meiosis remain unclear. Here, we report the identification of OsRR24/LEPTOTENE1 (LEPTO1), a rice (Oryza sativa) type-B response regulator that participates in the establishment of key molecular and morphological features of chromosomes in leptotene, an early stage of prophase I in meiosis. Although meiosis initiates normally, as indicated by staining of the centromere-specific histone CENH3, the meiotic chromosomes in lepto1 mutant pollen mother cells fail to form the thin thread-like structures that are typical of leptotene chromosomes in wild-type pollen mother cells. Furthermore, lepto1 mutants fail to form chromosomal double-strand breaks, do not recruit meiosis-specific proteins to the meiotic chromosomes, and show disrupted callose deposition. LEPTO1 also is essential for programmed cell death in tapetal cells. LEPTO1 contains a conserved signal receiver domain (DDK) and a myb-like DNA binding domain at the N terminus. LEPTO1 interacts with two authentic histidine phosphotransfer (AHP) proteins, OsAHP1 and OsAHP2, via the DDK domain, and a phosphomimetic mutation of the DDK domain relieves its repression of LEPTO1 transactivation activity. Collectively, our results show that OsRR24/LEPTO1 plays a significant role in the leptotene phase of meiotic prophase I.
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