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. 1998 Jun;10(6):1043–1054. doi: 10.1105/tpc.10.6.1043

The Arabidopsis abscisic acid response locus ABI4 encodes an APETALA 2 domain protein.

R R Finkelstein 1, M L Wang 1, T J Lynch 1, S Rao 1, H M Goodman 1
PMCID: PMC144030  PMID: 9634591

Abstract

Arabidopsis abscisic acid (ABA)-insensitive abi4 mutants have pleiotropic defects in seed development, including decreased sensitivity to ABA inhibition of germination and altered seed-specific gene expression. This phenotype is consistent with a role for ABI4 in regulating seed responses to ABA and/or seed-specific signals. We isolated the ABI4 gene by positional cloning and confirmed its identity by complementation analysis. The predicted protein product shows homology to a plant-specific family of transcriptional regulators characterized by a conserved DNA binding domain, the APETALA 2 domain. The single mutant allele identified has a single base pair deletion, resulting in a frameshift that should disrupt the C-terminal half of the protein but leave the presumed DNA binding domain intact. Expression analyses showed that despite the seed-specific nature of the mutant phenotype, ABI4 expression is not seed specific.

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Selected References

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