Wheat TaMs1 is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored lipid transfer protein necessary for pollen development

Background In flowering plants, lipid biosynthesis and transport within anthers is essential for male reproductive success. TaMs1, a dominant wheat fertility gene located on chromosome 4BS, has been previously fine mapped and identified to encode a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored non-specific lipid transfer protein (nsLTP). Although this gene is critical for pollen exine development, details of its function remains poorly understood. Results In this study, we report that TaMs1 is only expressed from the B sub-genome, with highest transcript abundance detected in anthers containing microspores undergoing pre-meiosis through to meiosis. β-glucuronidase transcriptional fusions further revealed that TaMs1 is expressed throughout all anther cell-types. TaMs1 was identified to be expressed at an earlier stage of anther development relative to genes reported to be necessary for sporopollenin precursor biosynthesis. In anthers missing a functional TaMs1 ( ms1c deletion mutant), these same genes were not observed to be mis-regulated, indicating an independent function for TaMs1 in pollen development. Exogenous hormone treatments on GUS reporter lines suggest that TaMs1 expression is increased by both indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and abscisic acid (ABA). Translational fusion constructs showed that TaMs1 is targeted to the plasma membrane. Conclusions In summary, TaMs1 is a wheat fertility gene, expressed early in anther development and encodes a GPI-LTP targeted to the plasma membrane. The work presented provides a new insight into the process of wheat pollen development.