title: Comprehensive analysis of CLE polypeptide signaling gene expression and overexpression activity in Arabidopsis.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Plant Gene Expression Center, United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service/University of California, Berkeley, Albany, California 94710, USA.
authors.forename: JiHyung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jun
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fiume
authors.forename: Adrienne H K
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Roeder
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Vijay K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Karen S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Osmont
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: Chan Man
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Elliot M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Meyerowitz
authors.forename: Lewis J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Feldman
authors.forename: Jennifer C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Fletcher
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: C118167:AT2G27250 protein, Arabidopsis; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins