title: A versatile set of ligation-independent cloning vectors for functional studies in plants.
abstract: With plant molecular biology entering the omics era, there is a need for simple cloning strategies that allow high throughput to systematically study the expression and function of large numbers of genes. Such strategies would facilitate the analysis of gene (sub)families and/or sets of coexpressed genes identified by transcriptomics. Here, we provide a set of 34 ligation-independent cloning (LIC) binary vectors for expression analysis, protein localization studies, and misexpression that will be made freely available. This set of plant LIC vectors offers a fast alternative to standard cloning strategies involving ligase or recombination enzyme technology. We demonstrate the use of this strategy and our new vectors by analyzing the expression domains of genes belonging to two subclades of the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor family. We show that neither the closest homologs of TARGET OF MONOPTEROS7 (TMO7/ATBS1) nor the members of the ATBS1 INTERACTING FACTOR subclade of putative TMO7 interactors are expressed in the embryo and that there is very limited coexpression in the primary root meristem. This suggests that these basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors are most likely not involved in TMO7-dependent root meristem initiation.
authors.affiliation: Wageningen University, Laboratory of Biochemistry, 6703 HA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bert
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: De Rybel
authors.forename: Willy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: van den Berg
authors.forename: Annemarie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lokerse
authors.forename: Che-Yang
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Hilda
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: van Mourik
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Möller
authors.forename: Cristina Llavata
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Peris
authors.forename: Dolf
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Weijers
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular / Q000379:methods*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics