{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]],"date-time":"2026-08-28T15:26:06Z","timestamp":1787930766223,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]],"date-time":"2026-08-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787875200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Plant Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Domains of Unknown Function (DUFs) are widely distributed across diverse genomes and are increasingly recognized as important regulators of plant growth, development, and stress responses. DUF3615 is a highly conserved plant-specific protein motif; however, its biological function remains largely unknown. Previously, the gene\n                    <jats:italic>OsGAPC3<\/jats:italic>\n                    , a key regulator of grain quality, was isolated and functionally characterized in rice. Transcriptome analysis during the dissection of the\n                    <jats:italic>OsGAPC3<\/jats:italic>\n                    -mediated regulatory pathway revealed that\n                    <jats:italic>OsDUF3615<\/jats:italic>\n                    is significantly upregulated in\n                    <jats:italic>Osgapc3<\/jats:italic>\n                    mutants, suggesting its potential involvement in rice development and grain traits. In this study, we show that\n                    <jats:italic>OsDUF3615<\/jats:italic>\n                    is constitutively expressed in rice and encodes a nucleus-localized protein. Functional analysis demonstrated that overexpression of\n                    <jats:italic>OsDUF3615<\/jats:italic>\n                    significantly promotes cell proliferation and expansion in the lemma along the grain width axis, leading to increased grain width and thousand-grain weight. Moreover,\n                    <jats:italic>OsDUF3615<\/jats:italic>\n                    modulates grain filling dynamics and alters the accumulation of major storage compounds, including starch and free fatty acids, thereby affecting both nutritional composition and eating quality traits, such as taste value. Collectively, our findings identify\n                    <jats:italic>OsDUF3615<\/jats:italic>\n                    as a key regulator of rice grain development and quality formation, providing valuable genetic resources for the molecular breeding of high-quality rice varieties.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2026.1928838","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]],"date-time":"2026-08-28T14:57:54Z","timestamp":1787929074000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["OsDUF3615 regulates grain size and quality traits by modulating cell proliferation and starch metabolism in rice"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Bo","family":"Peng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Xinyang Normal University","place":["Xinyang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jing","family":"Qiu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Xinyang Normal University","place":["Xinyang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ziyue","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Xinyang Normal University","place":["Xinyang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiaoyu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Horticulture, Xinyang Agriculture and Forestry University","place":["Xinyang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiang","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Henan Scientific Research Platform Service Center","place":["Zhengzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhiguo","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Henan Lingrui Pharmaceutical Company Limited","place":["Xinyang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yaqin","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Pharmacy, Xinyang Agriculture and Forestry University","place":["Xinyang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guanwang","family":"Shen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Xinyang Academy of Agricultural Science","place":["Xinyang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wei","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Xinyang Normal University","place":["Xinyang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jinhui","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Xinyang Normal University","place":["Xinyang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanfang","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Xinyang Normal University","place":["Xinyang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Quanxiu","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Xinyang Normal University","place":["Xinyang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1148","DOI":"10.1107\/S1744309110001685","article-title":"DUFs: families in search of function","volume":"66","author":"Bateman","year":"2010","journal-title":"Acta Crystallogr. 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