title: Reduced function of the RNA-binding protein FPA rescues a T-DNA insertion mutant in the Arabidopsis ZHOUPI gene by promoting transcriptional read-through.
abstract: T-DNA insertion mutants have been widely used to investigate plant gene functions. Unexpectedly, in several reported cases, the phenotype of T-DNA insertion mutations can be suppressed because of trans T-DNA interactions associated with epigenetic modification, which indicates that caution is needed when T-DNA mutants are used. In the present study, we characterized a novel process suppressing a T-DNA mutation. The spz2 (suppressor of zou 2) mutant was isolated as a suppressor of the phenotype of the zou-4 mutant caused by a T-DNA insertion in the first intron. The spz2 mutation partially recovered the native ZOU gene expression in the zou-4 background, but not in two other zou alleles, zou-2 and zou-3, with T-DNAs inserted in the exon and intron, respectively. The suppressed phenotype was inherited in a Mendelian fashion and is not associated with epigenetic modification. The recovery of the native ZOU gene expression in the spz2 zou-4 double mutant is caused by transcriptional read-through of the intronic T-DNA as a result of decreased proximal polyadenylation. SPZ2 encodes an RNA-binding protein, FPA, which is known to regulate polyadenylation site selection. This is the first example of FPA rescuing a T-DNA insertion mutation by affecting the polyadenylation site selection.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Stress Research, College of Life Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250014, People's Republic of China.|Key Laboratory of Soybean Molecular Design Breeding, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130102, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yaohua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Stress Research, College of Life Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250014, People's Republic of China.|Key Laboratory of Soybean Molecular Design Breeding, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130102, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Daniel Rutherford Building, Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh, EH9 3BF, UK.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goodrich
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Stress Research, College of Life Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250014, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chunxia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soybean Molecular Design Breeding, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130102, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Haichao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soybean Molecular Design Breeding, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130102, People's Republic of China. yangsuxin@iga.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Suxin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Stress Research, College of Life Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250014, People's Republic of China. fengxianzhong@iga.ac.cn.|Key Laboratory of Soybean Molecular Design Breeding, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130102, People's Republic of China. fengxianzhong@iga.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xianzhong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Feng
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D016153:Genes, Suppressor; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional / Q000235:genetics*; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D026723:Polyadenylation / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; C432432:FPA protein, Arabidopsis; C532182:RETARDED GROWTH OF EMBRYO1 protein, Arabidopsis; C036483:T-DNA
keywords: Alternative polyadenylation; Arabidopsis; FPA; T-DNA suppression; ZOU; spz2