Comprehensive analysis of CLE polypeptide signaling gene expression and overexpression activity in Arabidopsis.
Intercellular signaling is essential for the coordination of growth and development in higher plants. Although hundreds of putative receptors have been identified in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), only a few families of extracellular signaling molecules have been discovered, and their biological roles are largely unknown. To expand our insight into the developmental processes potentially regulated by ligand-mediated signal transduction pathways, we undertook a systematic expression analysis of the members of the Arabidopsis CLAVATA3/ESR-RELATED (CLE) small signaling polypeptide family. Using reporter constructs, we show that the CLE genes have distinct and specific patterns of promoter activity. We find that each Arabidopsis tissue expresses at least one CLE gene, indicating that CLE-mediated signaling pathways are likely to play roles in many biological processes during the plant life cycle. Some CLE genes that are closely related in sequence have dissimilar expression profiles, yet in many tissues multiple CLE genes have overlapping patterns of promoter-driven reporter activity. This observation, plus the general absence of detectable morphological phenotypes in cle null mutants, suggest that a high degree of functional redundancy exists among CLE gene family members. Our work establishes a community resource of CLE-related biological materials and provides a platform for understanding and ultimately manipulating many different plant signaling systems.
Jun
JiHyung
J
Plant Gene Expression Center, United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service/University of California, Berkeley, Albany, California 94710, USA.
Fiume
Elisa
E
Roeder
Adrienne H K
AH
Meng
Ling
L
Sharma
Vijay K
VK
Osmont
Karen S
KS
Baker
Catherine
C
Ha
Chan Man
CM
Meyerowitz
Elliot M
EM
Feldman
Lewis J
LJ
Fletcher
Jennifer C
JC
D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D035264:Flowers / Q000378:metabolism; D017343:Genes, Plant; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000378:metabolism; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D015398:Signal Transduction
C118167:AT2G27250 protein, Arabidopsis; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins