Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The Plant Cell logoLink to The Plant Cell
. 1998 Jun;10(6):925–936. doi: 10.1105/tpc.10.6.925

GOLDEN 2: a novel transcriptional regulator of cellular differentiation in the maize leaf.

L N Hall 1, L Rossini 1, L Cribb 1, J A Langdale 1
PMCID: PMC144032  PMID: 9634581

Abstract

The differentiation of distinct cell types within the leaf is essential for normal plant development. We characterized previously a transposon-induced mutant of maize (bundle sheath defective1) that disrupts the differentiation of a single photosynthetic cell type in the leaf. In this study, we show that this mutation is allelic to golden2 (g2), a lesion first reported 70 years ago. We cloned G2 by using Suppressor-mutator as a molecular tag. The gene encodes a 2. 2-kb transcript that is present throughout the wild-type leaf but is most abundant in C4 leaf blade tissue. Gene sequence data showed the existence of a bipartite nuclear localization signal encoded by the first exon, and we determined that G2 reporter gene fusions are targeted to the nucleus in onion epidermal cells. Further sequence analysis indicated the presence of a novel motif within the deduced protein sequence that shares features with TEA DNA binding domains. Therefore, we propose that G2 acts as a novel transcriptional regulator of cellular differentiation in the maize leaf.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (455.9 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Andrianopoulos A., Timberlake W. E. The Aspergillus nidulans abaA gene encodes a transcriptional activator that acts as a genetic switch to control development. Mol Cell Biol. 1994 Apr;14(4):2503–2515. doi: 10.1128/mcb.14.4.2503. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Baranowskij N., Frohberg C., Prat S., Willmitzer L. A novel DNA binding protein with homology to Myb oncoproteins containing only one repeat can function as a transcriptional activator. EMBO J. 1994 Nov 15;13(22):5383–5392. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1994.tb06873.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bürglin T. R. The TEA domain: a novel, highly conserved DNA-binding motif. Cell. 1991 Jul 12;66(1):11–12. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90132-i. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Campbell S., Inamdar M., Rodrigues V., Raghavan V., Palazzolo M., Chovnick A. The scalloped gene encodes a novel, evolutionarily conserved transcription factor required for sensory organ differentiation in Drosophila. Genes Dev. 1992 Mar;6(3):367–379. doi: 10.1101/gad.6.3.367. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Christensen A. H., Sharrock R. A., Quail P. H. Maize polyubiquitin genes: structure, thermal perturbation of expression and transcript splicing, and promoter activity following transfer to protoplasts by electroporation. Plant Mol Biol. 1992 Feb;18(4):675–689. doi: 10.1007/BF00020010. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Freeling M. A conceptual framework for maize leaf development. Dev Biol. 1992 Sep;153(1):44–58. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(92)90090-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hwang J. J., Chambon P., Davidson I. Characterization of the transcription activation function and the DNA binding domain of transcriptional enhancer factor-1. EMBO J. 1993 Jun;12(6):2337–2348. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1993.tb05888.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kim H. Y., Schiefelbein J. W., Raboy V., Furtek D. B., Nelson O. E., Jr RNA splicing permits expression of a maize gene with a defective Suppressor-mutator transposable element insertion in an exon. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Aug;84(16):5863–5867. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.16.5863. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Laloux I., Dubois E., Dewerchin M., Jacobs E. TEC1, a gene involved in the activation of Ty1 and Ty1-mediated gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: cloning and molecular analysis. Mol Cell Biol. 1990 Jul;10(7):3541–3550. doi: 10.1128/mcb.10.7.3541. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Langdale J. A., Nelson T. Spatial regulation of photosynthetic development in C4 plants. Trends Genet. 1991 Jun;7(6):191–196. doi: 10.1016/0168-9525(91)90435-s. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Langdale J. A., Taylor W. C., Nelson T. Cell-specific accumulation of maize phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase is correlated with demethylation at a specific site greater than 3 kb upstream of the gene. Mol Gen Genet. 1991 Jan;225(1):49–55. doi: 10.1007/BF00282641. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Langdale J. A., Zelitch I., Miller E., Nelson T. Cell position and light influence C4 versus C3 patterns of photosynthetic gene expression in maize. EMBO J. 1988 Dec 1;7(12):3643–3651. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb03245.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Raboy V., Kim H. Y., Schiefelbein J. W., Nelson-Jr O. E. Deletions in a dspm insert in a maize bronze-1 allele alter RNA processing and gene expression. Genetics. 1989 Jul;122(3):695–703. doi: 10.1093/genetics/122.3.695. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Restrepo M. A., Freed D. D., Carrington J. C. Nuclear transport of plant potyviral proteins. Plant Cell. 1990 Oct;2(10):987–998. doi: 10.1105/tpc.2.10.987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Robbins J., Dilworth S. M., Laskey R. A., Dingwall C. Two interdependent basic domains in nucleoplasmin nuclear targeting sequence: identification of a class of bipartite nuclear targeting sequence. Cell. 1991 Feb 8;64(3):615–623. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90245-t. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Roth R., Hall L. N., Brutnell T. P., Langdale J. A. bundle sheath defective2, a Mutation That Disrupts the Coordinated Development of Bundle Sheath and Mesophyll Cells in the Maize Leaf. Plant Cell. 1996 May;8(5):915–927. doi: 10.1105/tpc.8.5.915. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Sheen J. Y., Bogorad L. Differential expression of six light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding protein genes in maize leaf cell types. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Oct;83(20):7811–7815. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.20.7811. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Sheen J. Y., Bogorad L. Differential expression of the ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase large subunit gene in bundle sheath and mesophyll cells of developing maize leaves is influenced by light. Plant Physiol. 1985 Dec;79(4):1072–1076. doi: 10.1104/pp.79.4.1072. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Xiao J. H., Davidson I., Matthes H., Garnier J. M., Chambon P. Cloning, expression, and transcriptional properties of the human enhancer factor TEF-1. Cell. 1991 May 17;65(4):551–568. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90088-g. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Plant Cell are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES