Abstract
Yellow-stripe like (YSL) transporters belong to the oligopeptide transporter (OPT) family. In the present study, we examined an uncharacterized member of YSLs fin rice, OsYSL16. Knockout of this gene resulted in decreased accumulation of Cu in the shoots, but there was no effect on the accumulation of other metals including Fe, Zn and Mn. Further analysis showed that the knockout line contained a higher Cu concentration in the older leaves, but less in the younger leaves compared with the wild-type rice. Furthermore, when cultivated under copper-deficiency condition, the seed fertility of the knockout line was significantly reduced, but there was no difference in the fertility under high Cu condition. OsYSL16 was expressed both in the shoots and roots. At the reproductive stage, OsYSL16 was especially highly expressed in the node. Immunostainning showed that the protein was mainly localized in the phloem of the node. Yeast expressing OsYSL16 showed transport activity for Cu-NA. Taken together, we conclude that OsYSL16 is a Cu-NA transporter, which is involved in the translocation of Cu through phloem transport.
