An ABC transporter gene of Arabidopsis thaliana, AtWBC11, is involved in cuticle development and prevention of organ fusion.
Cuticle, including wax and cutin, is the barrier covering plant aerial organs and protecting the inner tissues. The Arabidopsis thaliana ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter CER5 (AtWBC12) has been identified as a wax exporter. In agreement with the latest report of another wax exporter, AtWBC11, here we show that atwbc11 mutants displayed organ fusions and stunted growth, and became vulnerable to chlorophyll leaching and toluidine blue staining. Chemical analysis showed that wax and cutin monomers were both reduced in the atwbc11 mutant. AtWBC11 was widely expressed in aerial organs. Interestingly, we found that the expression was light dependent, and the phytohormone ABA up-regulated AtWBC11 expression. We also found that while the AtWBC11 promoter had a broad pattern of activity, the expression was converted to epidermis specific when the reporter gene was fused to AtWBC11 cDNA. Furthermore, RNA blot analysis supported epidermis-specific expression of AtWBC11. Our results support that AtWBC11 is involved in cuticle development.
Luo
Bin
B
National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 300 Fenglin Road, Shanghai, PR China.
Xue
Xue-Yi
XY
Hu
Wen-Li
WL
Wang
Ling-Jian
LJ
Chen
Xiao-Ya
XY
D000070996:ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily G; D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D015870:Gene Expression; D017343:Genes, Plant; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
C525930:ABCG11 protein, Arabidopsis; D000070996:ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily G; D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers