Functional divergence of MYB-related genes, WEREWOLF and AtMYB23 in Arabidopsis.
Epidermal cell differentiation in Arabidopsis is studied as a model system to understand the mechanisms that determine the developmental end state of plant cells. MYB-related transcription factors are involved in cell fate determination. To examine the molecular basis of this process, we analyzed the functional relationship of two R2R3-type MYB genes, AtMYB23 (MYB23) and WEREWOLF (WER). MYB23 is involved in leaf trichome formation. WER represses root-hair formation. Swapping domains between MYB23 and WER, we found that a low homology region of MYB23 might be involved in ectopic trichome initiation on hypocotyls. MYB23 and all MYB23-WER (MW) chimeric transgenes rescued the increased root-hair phenotype of the wer-1 mutant. Although WER did not rescue the gl1-1 no-trichome phenotype, MYB23 and all MW chimeric transgenes rescued gl1-1. These results suggest that MYB23 acquired a specific function for trichome differentiation during evolution.
Interdisciplinary Research Organization, University of Miyazaki, Japan. rtominaga@cc.miyazaki-u.ac.jp
Rumi
R
Tominaga-Wada
Yuka
Y
Nukumizu
Shusei
S
Sato
Tomohiko
T
Kato
Satoshi
S
Tabata
Takuji
T
Wada
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D018546:Hypocotyl / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D050506:Mutant Chimeric Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D019441:Plant Epidermis / Q000235:genetics*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000235:genetics; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000235:genetics; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*
D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C543128:MYB23 protein, Arabidopsis; D050506:Mutant Chimeric Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C402111:WER protein, Arabidopsis