title: SUPPRESSOR OF FRIGIDA (SUF4) Supports Gamete Fusion via Regulating Arabidopsis EC1 Gene Expression.
abstract: The EGG CELL1 (EC1) gene family of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) comprises five members that are specifically expressed in the egg cell and redundantly control gamete fusion during double fertilization. We investigated the activity of all five EC1 promoters in promoter-deletion studies and identified SUF4 (SUPPRESSOR OF FRIGIDA4), a C2H2transcription factor, as a direct regulator of the EC1 gene expression. In particular, we demonstrated that SUF4 binds to all five Arabidopsis EC1 promoters, thus regulating their expression. The down-regulation of SUF4 in homozygous suf4-1 ovules results in reduced EC1 expression and delayed sperm fusion, which can be rescued by expressing SUF4-β-glucuronidase under the control of the SUF4 promoter. To identify more gene products able to regulate EC1 expression together with SUF4, we performed coexpression studies that led to the identification of MOM1 (MORPHEUS' MOLECULE1), a component of a silencing mechanism that is independent of DNA methylation marks. In mom1-3 ovules, both SUF4 and EC1 genes are down-regulated, and EC1 genes show higher levels of histone 3 lysine-9 acetylation, suggesting that MOM1 contributes to the regulation of SUF4 and EC1 gene expression.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (F.R., P.M., C.M., L.C., S.M.).|Lehrstuhl Zellbiologie und Pflanzenbiochemie, Biochemie-Zentrum Regensburg, Universität Regensburg, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany (P.C., S.A., T.D., S.S.).|Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (J.G.S., A.L., G.N.D.); and.|Istituto di Biofisica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Università di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (P.M., L.C.).
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0033-6930
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Resentini
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (F.R., P.M., C.M., L.C., S.M.).|Lehrstuhl Zellbiologie und Pflanzenbiochemie, Biochemie-Zentrum Regensburg, Universität Regensburg, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany (P.C., S.A., T.D., S.S.).|Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (J.G.S., A.L., G.N.D.); and.|Istituto di Biofisica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Università di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (P.M., L.C.).
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cyprys
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (F.R., P.M., C.M., L.C., S.M.).|Lehrstuhl Zellbiologie und Pflanzenbiochemie, Biochemie-Zentrum Regensburg, Universität Regensburg, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany (P.C., S.A., T.D., S.S.).|Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (J.G.S., A.L., G.N.D.); and.|Istituto di Biofisica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Università di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (P.M., L.C.).
authors.forename: Joshua G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Steffen
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (F.R., P.M., C.M., L.C., S.M.).|Lehrstuhl Zellbiologie und Pflanzenbiochemie, Biochemie-Zentrum Regensburg, Universität Regensburg, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany (P.C., S.A., T.D., S.S.).|Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (J.G.S., A.L., G.N.D.); and.|Istituto di Biofisica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Università di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (P.M., L.C.).
authors.forename: Svenja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alter
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (F.R., P.M., C.M., L.C., S.M.).|Lehrstuhl Zellbiologie und Pflanzenbiochemie, Biochemie-Zentrum Regensburg, Universität Regensburg, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany (P.C., S.A., T.D., S.S.).|Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (J.G.S., A.L., G.N.D.); and.|Istituto di Biofisica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Università di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (P.M., L.C.).
authors.forename: Piero
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7994-6426
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Morandini
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (F.R., P.M., C.M., L.C., S.M.).|Lehrstuhl Zellbiologie und Pflanzenbiochemie, Biochemie-Zentrum Regensburg, Universität Regensburg, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany (P.C., S.A., T.D., S.S.).|Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (J.G.S., A.L., G.N.D.); and.|Istituto di Biofisica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Università di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (P.M., L.C.).
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3644-2890
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mizzotti
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (F.R., P.M., C.M., L.C., S.M.).|Lehrstuhl Zellbiologie und Pflanzenbiochemie, Biochemie-Zentrum Regensburg, Universität Regensburg, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany (P.C., S.A., T.D., S.S.).|Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (J.G.S., A.L., G.N.D.); and.|Istituto di Biofisica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Università di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (P.M., L.C.).
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lloyd
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (F.R., P.M., C.M., L.C., S.M.).|Lehrstuhl Zellbiologie und Pflanzenbiochemie, Biochemie-Zentrum Regensburg, Universität Regensburg, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany (P.C., S.A., T.D., S.S.).|Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (J.G.S., A.L., G.N.D.); and.|Istituto di Biofisica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Università di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (P.M., L.C.).
authors.forename: Gary N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Drews
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (F.R., P.M., C.M., L.C., S.M.).|Lehrstuhl Zellbiologie und Pflanzenbiochemie, Biochemie-Zentrum Regensburg, Universität Regensburg, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany (P.C., S.A., T.D., S.S.).|Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (J.G.S., A.L., G.N.D.); and.|Istituto di Biofisica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Università di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (P.M., L.C.).
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6442-4302
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dresselhaus
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (F.R., P.M., C.M., L.C., S.M.).|Lehrstuhl Zellbiologie und Pflanzenbiochemie, Biochemie-Zentrum Regensburg, Universität Regensburg, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany (P.C., S.A., T.D., S.S.).|Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (J.G.S., A.L., G.N.D.); and.|Istituto di Biofisica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Università di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (P.M., L.C.).
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8415-1399
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Colombo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (F.R., P.M., C.M., L.C., S.M.); stefanie.sprunck@ur.de simona.masiero@unimi.it.|Lehrstuhl Zellbiologie und Pflanzenbiochemie, Biochemie-Zentrum Regensburg, Universität Regensburg, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany (P.C., S.A., T.D., S.S.); stefanie.sprunck@ur.de simona.masiero@unimi.it.|Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (J.G.S., A.L., G.N.D.); and stefanie.sprunck@ur.de simona.masiero@unimi.it.|Istituto di Biofisica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Università di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (P.M., L.C.) stefanie.sprunck@ur.de simona.masiero@unimi.it.
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9732-9237
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sprunck
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (F.R., P.M., C.M., L.C., S.M.); stefanie.sprunck@ur.de simona.masiero@unimi.it.|Lehrstuhl Zellbiologie und Pflanzenbiochemie, Biochemie-Zentrum Regensburg, Universität Regensburg, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany (P.C., S.A., T.D., S.S.); stefanie.sprunck@ur.de simona.masiero@unimi.it.|Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (J.G.S., A.L., G.N.D.); and stefanie.sprunck@ur.de simona.masiero@unimi.it.|Istituto di Biofisica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Università di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy (P.M., L.C.) stefanie.sprunck@ur.de simona.masiero@unimi.it.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7563-7634
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Masiero
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017124:Conserved Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D005306:Fertilization / Q000235:genetics*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D055993:Germ Cells, Plant / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D059372:Nucleotide Motifs / Q000235:genetics; D010063:Ovum / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D010641:Phenotype; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C517314:SUF4 protein, Arabidopsis; D015534:Trans-Activators; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins