title: A comprehensive analysis of microProteins reveals their potentially widespread mechanism of transcriptional regulation.
abstract: Truncated transcription factor-like proteins called microProteins (miPs) can modulate transcription factor activities, thereby increasing transcriptional regulatory complexity. To understand their prevalence, evolution, and function, we predicted over 400 genes that encode putative miPs from Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) using a bioinformatics pipeline and validated two novel miPs involved in flowering time and response to abiotic and biotic stress. We provide an evolutionary perspective for a class of miPs targeting homeodomain transcription factors in plants and metazoans. We identify domain loss as one mechanism of miP evolution and suggest the possible roles of miPs on the evolution of their target transcription factors. Overall, we reveal a prominent layer of transcriptional regulation by miPs, show pervasiveness of such proteins both within and across genomes, and provide a framework for studying their function and evolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, California 94305.
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Magnani
authors.forename: Niek
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: de Klein
authors.forename: Hye-In
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.forename: Jung-Gun
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fiume
authors.forename: Mary Beth
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Mudgett
authors.forename: Seung Yon
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Rhee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D060467:Disease Resistance / Q000276:immunology; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D035264:Flowers / Q000502:physiology; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D010802:Phylogeny; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D013997:Time Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors