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Rice MEL2 regulates the timing of meiotic transition as a component of cytoplasmic RNA granules

Cytoplasmic RNA granules play important roles in gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. In this study, we found that the rice RNA-binding protein MEIOSIS ARRESTED AT LEPTOTENE2 (MEL2), which contributes to the control of meiotic entry timing, was a constituent of RNA granules, frequently associating with processing bodies and stress granules in the cytoplasm of premeiotic spore mother cells. MEL2 has four conserved domains and a large intrinsically disordered region, which is often responsible for formation and maintenance of granular structures. MEL2-like proteins with diverse domain structures are widely conserved in land plants and charophyte algae. In basal land plants, MEL2-like proteins are exclusively expressed in the sporophyte, which expresses meiotic genes, suggesting the functional conservation of MEL2 among land plant species. We propose here that MEL2 participates in post-transcriptional regulation of meiotic genes as a component of RNA granules to ensure proper timing of the meiotic transition.