title: Functional Analysis of the Arabidopsis TETRASPANIN Gene Family in Plant Growth and Development.
abstract: TETRASPANIN (TET) genes encode conserved integral membrane proteins that are known in animals to function in cellular communication during gamete fusion, immunity reaction, and pathogen recognition. In plants, functional information is limited to one of the 17 members of the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) TET gene family and to expression data in reproductive stages. Here, the promoter activity of all 17 Arabidopsis TET genes was investigated by pAtTET::NUCLEAR LOCALIZATION SIGNAL-GREEN FLUORESCENT PROTEIN/β-GLUCURONIDASE reporter lines throughout the life cycle, which predicted functional divergence in the paralogous genes per clade. However, partial overlap was observed for many TET genes across the clades, correlating with few phenotypes in single mutants and, therefore, requiring double mutant combinations for functional investigation. Mutational analysis showed a role for TET13 in primary root growth and lateral root development and redundant roles for TET5 and TET6 in leaf and root growth through negative regulation of cell proliferation. Strikingly, a number of TET genes were expressed in embryonic and seedling progenitor cells and remained expressed until the differentiation state in the mature plant, suggesting a dynamic function over developmental stages. The cis-regulatory elements together with transcription factor-binding data provided molecular insight into the sites, conditions, and perturbations that affect TET gene expression and positioned the TET genes in different molecular pathways; the data represent a hypothesis-generating resource for further functional analyses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium (F.W, A.M., J.V.d.V., P.N., K.H., K.V., M.V.L.);Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium (F.W, A.M., J.V.d.V., P.N., K.H., K.V., M.V.L.); andDepartment of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata of Rende, Italy (A.M.).
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium (F.W, A.M., J.V.d.V., P.N., K.H., K.V., M.V.L.);Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium (F.W, A.M., J.V.d.V., P.N., K.H., K.V., M.V.L.); andDepartment of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata of Rende, Italy (A.M.).
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muto
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium (F.W, A.M., J.V.d.V., P.N., K.H., K.V., M.V.L.);Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium (F.W, A.M., J.V.d.V., P.N., K.H., K.V., M.V.L.); andDepartment of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata of Rende, Italy (A.M.).
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van de Velde
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium (F.W, A.M., J.V.d.V., P.N., K.H., K.V., M.V.L.);Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium (F.W, A.M., J.V.d.V., P.N., K.H., K.V., M.V.L.); andDepartment of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata of Rende, Italy (A.M.).
authors.forename: Pia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Neyt
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium (F.W, A.M., J.V.d.V., P.N., K.H., K.V., M.V.L.);Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium (F.W, A.M., J.V.d.V., P.N., K.H., K.V., M.V.L.); andDepartment of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata of Rende, Italy (A.M.).
authors.forename: Kristiina
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4975-9467
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Himanen
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium (F.W, A.M., J.V.d.V., P.N., K.H., K.V., M.V.L.);Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium (F.W, A.M., J.V.d.V., P.N., K.H., K.V., M.V.L.); andDepartment of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata of Rende, Italy (A.M.).
authors.forename: Klaas
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4790-2725
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vandepoele
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium (F.W, A.M., J.V.d.V., P.N., K.H., K.V., M.V.L.);Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium (F.W, A.M., J.V.d.V., P.N., K.H., K.V., M.V.L.); andDepartment of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata of Rende, Italy (A.M.) mieke.vanlijsebettens@psb.vib-ugent.be.
authors.forename: Mieke
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7632-1463
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van Lijsebettens
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D005810:Multigene Family; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D054046:Plant Stomata / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D036226:Seedlings / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D059470:Tetraspanins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D059470:Tetraspanins