Abstract
The understanding of control of gene regulation in higher eukaryotes relies heavily on results derived from non-in vivo studies, but rarely can the significance of these approximations be established in vivo. Here, we investigated the effect of Mutator and Spm insertions on the expression of the flavonoid biosynthetic gene a1, independently regulated by the transcription factors C1 and P. The a1-mum2 and a1-m2 alleles carry Mu1 and Spm insertions, respectively, in a cis-element (ARE) of unknown function located between the P- and C1-binding sites. We show that the insertions of Mu1 and Spm similarly influence the expression of a1 controlled by C1 or P. The P-controlled a1 expression in a1-m2 is Spm dependent, and the mutant phenotype of a1-mum2 is suppressed in the pericarp in the absence of the autonomous MuDR element. Footprints within the ARE affect the regulation of a1 by C1 and P differently, providing evidence that these factors control a1 expression using distinct cis-acting regulatory elements. Together, our findings contribute significantly to one of the best-described plant regulatory systems, while stressing the need to complement with in vivo experiments current approaches used for the study of control of gene expression.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (361.1 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Athma P., Peterson T. Ac induces homologous recombination at the maize P locus. Genetics. 1991 May;128(1):163–173. doi: 10.1093/genetics/128.1.163. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Barkan A., Martienssen R. A. Inactivation of maize transposon Mu suppresses a mutant phenotype by activating an outward-reading promoter near the end of Mu1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991 Apr 15;88(8):3502–3506. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.8.3502. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Chandler V. L., Hardeman K. J. The Mu elements of Zea mays. Adv Genet. 1992;30:77–122. doi: 10.1016/s0065-2660(08)60319-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Chomet P., Lisch D., Hardeman K. J., Chandler V. L., Freeling M. Identification of a regulatory transposon that controls the Mutator transposable element system in maize. Genetics. 1991 Sep;129(1):261–270. doi: 10.1093/genetics/129.1.261. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Cone K. C., Cocciolone S. M., Burr F. A., Burr B. Maize anthocyanin regulatory gene pl is a duplicate of c1 that functions in the plant. Plant Cell. 1993 Dec;5(12):1795–1805. doi: 10.1105/tpc.5.12.1795. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Das L., Martienssen R. Site-selected transposon mutagenesis at the hcf106 locus in maize. Plant Cell. 1995 Mar;7(3):287–294. doi: 10.1105/tpc.7.3.287. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Doseff A., Martienssen R., Sundaresan V. Somatic excision of the Mu1 transposable element of maize. Nucleic Acids Res. 1991 Feb 11;19(3):579–584. doi: 10.1093/nar/19.3.579. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Goff S. A., Cone K. C., Chandler V. L. Functional analysis of the transcriptional activator encoded by the maize B gene: evidence for a direct functional interaction between two classes of regulatory proteins. Genes Dev. 1992 May;6(5):864–875. doi: 10.1101/gad.6.5.864. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Grotewold E., Athma P., Peterson T. A possible hot spot for Ac insertion in the maize P gene. Mol Gen Genet. 1991 Nov;230(1-2):329–331. doi: 10.1007/BF00290684. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Grotewold E., Drummond B. J., Bowen B., Peterson T. The myb-homologous P gene controls phlobaphene pigmentation in maize floral organs by directly activating a flavonoid biosynthetic gene subset. Cell. 1994 Feb 11;76(3):543–553. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(94)90117-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Grotewold E., Sainz M. B., Tagliani L., Hernandez J. M., Bowen B., Chandler V. L. Identification of the residues in the Myb domain of maize C1 that specify the interaction with the bHLH cofactor R. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000 Dec 5;97(25):13579–13584. doi: 10.1073/pnas.250379897. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Masson P., Surosky R., Kingsbury J. A., Fedoroff N. V. Genetic and molecular analysis of the Spm-dependent a-m2 alleles of the maize a locus. Genetics. 1987 Sep;117(1):117–137. doi: 10.1093/genetics/117.1.117. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- O'Reilly C., Shepherd N. S., Pereira A., Schwarz-Sommer Z., Bertram I., Robertson D. S., Peterson P. A., Saedler H. Molecular cloning of the a1 locus of Zea mays using the transposable elements En and Mu1. EMBO J. 1985 Apr;4(4):877–882. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03713.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Rabinowicz P. D., Braun E. L., Wolfe A. D., Bowen B., Grotewold E. Maize R2R3 Myb genes: Sequence analysis reveals amplification in the higher plants. Genetics. 1999 Sep;153(1):427–444. doi: 10.1093/genetics/153.1.427. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Schwarz-Sommer Z., Shepherd N., Tacke E., Gierl A., Rohde W., Leclercq L., Mattes M., Berndtgen R., Peterson P. A., Saedler H. Influence of transposable elements on the structure and function of the A1 gene of Zea mays. EMBO J. 1987 Feb;6(2):287–294. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb04752.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Settles A. M., Baron A., Barkan A., Martienssen R. A. Duplication and suppression of chloroplast protein translocation genes in maize. Genetics. 2001 Jan;157(1):349–360. doi: 10.1093/genetics/157.1.349. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Tuerck J. A., Fromm M. E. Elements of the maize A1 promoter required for transactivation by the anthocyanin B/C1 or phlobaphene P regulatory genes. Plant Cell. 1994 Nov;6(11):1655–1663. doi: 10.1105/tpc.6.11.1655. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]