ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Breeding
The PtDPL1/PtGAMYB-PtLEAFY module regulate pollen fertility and flowering time in Pinus Tabuliformis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
- 2The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Reproductive development is a crucial stage in the plant life cycle. The GAMYB transcription factor plays an important role in regulating stamen development. Here, PtGAMYB was identified as part of the GA signal transduction pathway of Pinus tabuliformis and demonstrated to play a role in male reproductive development. Subcellular localization assays revealed that the PtGAMYB protein is localized in the nucleus. Both RNA-seq and fluorescence in situ hybridization demonstrated that PtGAMYB is specifically and highly expressed in the male cones and pollen of Pinus tabuliformis. Heterologous expression of PtGAMYB in Arabidopsis thaliana delayed flowering time, reduced pollen germination rates, and impaired seed set. However, these phenotypes could be restored by exogenous GA4+7 treatment. Additionally, binding and activation analyses indicated that PtGAMYB acts as an upstream regulator of PtLEAFY. Further studies determined that PtGAMYB interacts with PtDPL1 protein to enhance the inhibition of PtLEAFY, ultimately regulating male cone formation in Pinus tabuliformis. Our findings establish a novel PtDPL1/PtGAMYB-PtLEAFY regulatory network and provide new insights into the reproductive mechanisms in conifers.
Keywords: Cone development, Pinus tabuliformis, PtDPL1, PtGAMYB, PtLEAFY
Received: 24 Sep 2025; Accepted: 10 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Zhang, Zhou, Jiao, El-Kassaby and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wei Li
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.