Functional Studies of Castor (Ricinus communis L.) PLC Family Genes in Arabidopsis Inflorescence Development

Castor (Ricinus communis L.) is one of the top 10 oil crops in the world, and inflorescence is a trait that directly affects its yield. Phospholipase C (PLCs) is involved in many plant activities and metabolic processes. To study the functions of PLC family genes in the regulation of the inflorescence development of the female line of Lm-type castor aLmAB2, we determined the expression levels of six PLC family genes of three types of inflorescences of aLmAB2 (isofemale line, female line, bisexual line) at different developmental stages. The results showed that the 6 genes of the castor PLC family had relative expression levels at different developmental stages of the three types of inflorescences. The subcellular location of all six protein products was the cell membrane. The six genes were heterologously overexpressed in Arabidopsis thaliana to obtain the T3 generation-resistant Arabidopsis thaliana plants. The results showed that the overexpression of six genes significantly promoted the maturation of Arabidopsis thaliana, the growth of lateral moss, and the development of flowers and pods, but the development of basal leaves and stem leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana was significantly inhibited. According to homology analysis, it is speculated that PLC2, PLC2M, PLC2N, PLC4, PLC4X2, and PLC6 genes have the same regulatory function.