title: A low-temperature-responsive element involved in the regulation of the Arabidopsis thaliana At1g71850/At1g71860 divergent gene pair.
abstract: The bidirectional promoter of the Arabidopsis thaliana gene pair At1g71850/At1g71860 harbors low-temperature-responsive elements, which participate in anti-correlated transcription regulation of the driving genes in response to environmental low temperature. A divergent gene pair is defined as two adjacent genes organized head to head in opposite orientation, sharing a common promoter region. Divergent gene pairs are mainly coexpressed, but some display opposite regulation. The mechanistic basis of such anti-correlated regulation is not well understood. Here, the regulation of the Arabidopsis thaliana gene pair At1g71850/At1g71860 was investigated. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR and Genevestigator analyses showed that while one of the pair was upregulated by exposure to low temperature, the same treatment downregulated the other. Promoter::GUS fusion transgenes were used to show that this behavior was driven by a bidirectional promoter, which harbored an as-1 motif, associated with the low-temperature response; mutation of this sequence produced a significant decrease in cold-responsive expression. With regard to the as-1 motif in the native orientation repressing the promoter's low-temperature responsiveness, the same as-1 motif introduced in the reverse direction showed a slight enhancement in the promoter's responsiveness to low-temperature exposure, indicating that the orientation of the motif was important for the promoter's activity. These findings provide new insights into the complex transcriptional regulation of bidirectional gene pairs as well as plant stress response.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, 273165, China.|Key Laboratory of Plant Cell Engineering and Germplasm Innovation, Ministry of Education, School of Life Science, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China.
authors.forename: Shijuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, 273165, China.
authors.forename: Huiqing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, 273165, China.
authors.forename: Xiulan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Cell Engineering and Germplasm Innovation, Ministry of Education, School of Life Science, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China. weizhang@sdu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D003080:Cold Temperature; D005470:Fluorometry; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D005966:Glucuronidase / Q000378:metabolism; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics; D043222:Ubiquitin Thiolesterase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C000616072:PTP1 protein, Arabidopsis; D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases; D005966:Glucuronidase; C000616071:At1g71850 protein, Arabidopsis; D043222:Ubiquitin Thiolesterase
keywords: Anti-correlated regulation; As-1; Bidirectional promoter; GUS; Low-temperature treatment