title: Gene Family Analysis of theArabidopsis NF-YATranscription Factors Reveals Opposing Abscisic Acid Responses During Seed Germination.
abstract: In the plant kingdom, each of theNUCLEAR FACTOR-Y(NF-Y) transcription factor families,NF-YA,NF-YB, andNF-YC, has undergone a great expansion compared to the animal kingdom. For example,Arabidopsis thalianahas 10 members of each gene family compared to only one in humans. Progress towards understanding the significance of this expansion is limited due to a lack of studies looking at the complete gene family during plant development. In the current study, transgenic overexpression lines were created for all 10Arabidopsis NF-YAgenes and examined for general development and alterations in abscisic acid (ABA)-mediated seed germination.NF-YAoverexpression typically led to severe growth retardation and developmental defects, which extended from embryogenesis through to adult plants. Although overexpression of allNF-YAfamily members consistently led to growth retardation, some transgenic lines were hypersensitive to ABA during germination while others were hyposensitive. The opposing germination phenotypes were associated with the phylogenetic relationships between theNF-YAmembers. In addition, ABA marker genes were misregulated and ABA induction of gene expression was reduced in the overexpressors. Collectively, this study demonstrates that although NF-Ys have retained high degrees of similarity, they have evolved unique and sometimes opposing roles during plant development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology, University of Oklahoma, 770 Van Vleet Oval, GLCH, Room 43, Norman, OK 73019 USA.
authors.forename: Chamindika L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Siriwardana
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology, University of Oklahoma, 770 Van Vleet Oval, GLCH, Room 43, Norman, OK 73019 USA.
authors.forename: Roderick W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Kumimoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology, University of Oklahoma, 770 Van Vleet Oval, GLCH, Room 43, Norman, OK 73019 USA.
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology, University of Oklahoma, 770 Van Vleet Oval, GLCH, Room 43, Norman, OK 73019 USA.
authors.forename: Ben F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Holt
keywords: Abscisic acid; Germination; NUCLEAR FACTOR-Y; Plant hormone; Signaling; Transcription factor