Carbohydrate starvation stimulates differential expression of rice alpha-amylase genes that is modulated through complicated transcriptional and posttranscriptional processes.

Expression of alpha-amylase genes in cultured rice suspension cells is induced by sucrose starvation. To study the mechanism of sugar metabolite regulation on the expression of individual alpha-amylase genes, DNA fragments specific to each of eight rice alpha-amylase genes were synthesized and used as gene-specific probes. Comparison of the relative abundance of mRNA revealed that expression of the eight alpha-amylase genes in rice cells was differentially regulated by sucrose starvation. Accumulation of all the alpha-amylase mRNAs increased in response to sucrose starvation; however, levels of the alphaAmy3 and alphaAmy8 mRNAs were distinctly higher and constituted 90% of total alpha-amylase mRNAs. RNA gel blot and nuclear run-on transcription analyses demonstrated a positive correlation between the increased transcription rates and the elevated steady-state levels of alpha-amylase mRNAs induced by sucrose starvation. The half-lives of alphaAmy3, alphaAmy7, and alphaAmy8 were prolonged by sucrose-starvation; however, the stability of the three mRNAs seems controlled by different mechanisms. The translation inhibitors cycloheximide and anisomycin preferentially blocked the sucrose-suppressed expression of alphaAmy3 but not that of alphaAmy7 and alphaAmy8. These inhibitors also enhanced the sucrose starvation-induced accumulation of alphaAmy3 mRNA but not that of alphaAmy7 or alphaAmy8 mRNAs. Cycloheximide did not significantly alter the transcription rates of alpha-amylase genes, suggesting that labile proteins may selectively stabilize the alphaAmy7 and alphaAmy8 mRNAs but destabilize the alphaAmy3 mRNA.