Fig. 1.

The proposed model for OsROS1 in mediating aleurone development in rice. OsROS1 modulates the expression of genes such as RISBZ1 and RPBF by DNA demethylation in the endosperm of rice. In the wild type, the higher expression of RISBZ1 and RPBF genes is maintained by OsROS1 to ensure the formation of one aleurone cell layer. In ta2 mutants, the attenuated function of mOsROS1 led to increased DNA methylation in the promoter regions, thus repressing the expression of genes such as RISBZ1 and RPBF, which releases their inhibition on the aleurone cell-layer formation. Thus, the ta2 mutants have more aleurone cell layers and contain more nutrients than the wild type (ZH11).