The evolutionarily conserved TOUGH protein is required for proper development of Arabidopsis thaliana.
In this study, we characterize the evolutionarily conserved TOUGH (TGH) protein as a novel regulator required for Arabidopsis thaliana development. We initially identified TGH as a yeast two-hybrid system interactor of the transcription initiation factor TATA-box binding protein 2. TGH has apparent orthologs in all eukaryotic model organisms with the exception of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. TGH contains domains with strong similarity to G-patch and SWAP domains, protein domains that are characteristic of RNA binding and processing proteins. Furthermore, TGH colocalizes with the splicing regulator SRp34 to subnuclear particles. We therefore propose that TGH plays a role in RNA binding or processing. Arabidopsis tgh mutants display developmental defects, including reduced plant height, polycotyly, and reduced vascularization. We found TGH expression to be increased in the amp1-1 mutant, which is similar to tgh mutants with respect to polycotyly and defects in vascular development. Interestingly, we observed a strong genetic interaction between TGH and AMP1 in that tgh-1 amp1-1 double mutants are extremely dwarfed and severely affected in plant development in general and vascular development in particular when compared with the single mutants.
Calderon-Villalobos
Luz I A
LI
Centre for Plant Molecular Biology, Developmental Genetics, Tübingen University, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
Kuhnle
Carola
C
Dohmann
Esther M N
EM
Li
Hanbing
H
Bevan
Mike
M
Schwechheimer
Claus
C
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002268:Carboxypeptidases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D020798:Two-Hybrid System Techniques
D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C506680:TOUGH protein, Arabidopsis; D002268:Carboxypeptidases; C506681:AMP1 protein, Arabidopsis