BEAK LIKE SPIKELET1 is Required for Lateral Development of Lemma and Palea in Rice

Lemma and palea are unique floral structures found only in Poaceae, and are responsible for protecting the inner floral organs and kernels from environmental stresses. However, the mechanism underlying specification of their morphology remains unclear. In this study, we characterized a rice mutant, beak like spikelet1 (bls1), which specifically affects development of the lemma and palea. In bls1 mutant, floral-organ identity and floral-organ patterning are normal, and the defects occur at the stage of the lemma and palea expansion, whereas the other aspects of floral architecture and form are not affected. We isolated BLS1 by positional cloning and found that it encodes a protein with a conserved domain of unknown function. BLS1 is expressed strongly in young inflorescence, specifically the young lemmas and paleas of spikelets. Subcellular localization analysis showed that BLS1 is localized in the nucleus. Expression of the AP1-like and SEP-like floral homeotic genes were not changed in the bls1 mutant. Our study suggested that BLS1 is required for lateral development of the lemma and palea and does not function at stages of floral-organ initiation and patterning.