Skip to main content
The Plant Cell logoLink to The Plant Cell
. 1991 Dec;3(12):1289–1303. doi: 10.1105/tpc.3.12.1289

Expression dynamics of the tomato rbcS gene family during development.

L A Wanner 1, W Gruissem 1
PMCID: PMC160092  PMID: 1840898

Abstract

The tomato rbcS gene family is composed of five genes (rbcS1, 2, 3A, 3B, and 3C) that are differentially expressed during tomato development. Nuclear run-on transcription assays and RNA analysis were used to determine the contribution of transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation to the accumulation of mRNA from the five rbcS genes in tomato seedlings, leaves, and fruit. We found that the qualitative pattern of mRNA accumulation is regulated at the transcriptional level and that, in general, there is a correlation of rates of rbcS transcription with overall rbcS mRNA abundance in fruit and leaves. Although transcriptional control is a primary determinant for rbcS gene expression in tomato, examination of relative transcription rates and mRNA accumulation of each rbcS gene demonstrated that there is also significant post-transcriptional control of rbcS gene expression during organ development. Individual rbcS mRNAs, which have highly conserved coding sequences and differ only in their 5' and 3' untranslated sequences, have different stabilities. We showed that both transcription and stability of individual rbcS mRNAs are altered in different organs and by the developmental program within these organs as well as by exposure to light. Together, the results provide a comprehensive analysis of the extent of transcriptional and post-transcriptional control that operates within the rbcS gene family during plant development.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (3.7 MB).

Selected References

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

  1. Berry-Lowe S. L., Meagher R. B. Transcriptional regulation of a gene encoding the small subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase in soybean tissue is linked to the phytochrome response. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Aug;5(8):1910–1917. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.8.1910. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Fluhr R., Chua N. H. Developmental regulation of two genes encoding ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit in pea and transgenic petunia plants: Phytochrome response and blue-light induction. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Apr;83(8):2358–2362. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.8.2358. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Gallagher T. F., Ellis R. J. Light-stimulated transcription of genes for two chloroplast polypeptides in isolated pea leaf nuclei. EMBO J. 1982;1(12):1493–1498. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1982.tb01345.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Inamine G., Nash B., Weissbach H., Brot N. Light regulation of the synthesis of the large subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase in peas: Evidence for translational control. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Sep;82(17):5690–5694. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.17.5690. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Ingelbrecht I. L., Herman L. M., Dekeyser R. A., Van Montagu M. C., Depicker A. G. Different 3' end regions strongly influence the level of gene expression in plant cells. Plant Cell. 1989 Jul;1(7):671–680. doi: 10.1105/tpc.1.7.671. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Piechulla B., Gruissem W. Diurnal mRNA fluctuations of nuclear and plastid genes in developing tomato fruits. EMBO J. 1987 Dec 1;6(12):3593–3599. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02690.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Rodermel S. R., Abbott M. S., Bogorad L. Nuclear-organelle interactions: nuclear antisense gene inhibits ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase enzyme levels in transformed tobacco plants. Cell. 1988 Nov 18;55(4):673–681. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90226-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Salts Y., Wachs R., Gruissem W., Barg R. Sequence coding for a novel proline-rich protein preferentially expressed in young tomato fruit. Plant Mol Biol. 1991 Jul;17(1):149–150. doi: 10.1007/BF00036818. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Schuster G., Gruissem W. Chloroplast mRNA 3' end processing requires a nuclear-encoded RNA-binding protein. EMBO J. 1991 Jun;10(6):1493–1502. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1991.tb07669.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Shirley B. W., Ham D. P., Senecoff J. F., Berry-Lowe S. L., Zurfluh L. L., Shah D. M., Meagher R. B. Comparison of the expression of two highly homologous members of the soybean ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit gene family. Plant Mol Biol. 1990 Jun;14(6):909–925. doi: 10.1007/BF00019389. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Shirley B. W., Meagher R. B. A potential role for RNA turnover in the light regulation of plant gene expression: ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit in soybean. Nucleic Acids Res. 1990 Jun 11;18(11):3377–3385. doi: 10.1093/nar/18.11.3377. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Silverthorne J., Tobin E. M. Demonstration of transcriptional regulation of specific genes by phytochrome action. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Feb;81(4):1112–1116. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.4.1112. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Silverthorne J., Tobin E. M. Post-transcriptional regulation of organ-specific expression of individual rbcS mRNAs in Lemna gibba. Plant Cell. 1990 Dec;2(12):1181–1190. doi: 10.1105/tpc.2.12.1181. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Stern D. B., Jones H., Gruissem W. Function of plastid mRNA 3' inverted repeats. RNA stabilization and gene-specific protein binding. J Biol Chem. 1989 Nov 5;264(31):18742–18750. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Sugita M., Gruissem W. Developmental, organ-specific, and light-dependent expression of the tomato ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit gene family. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Oct;84(20):7104–7108. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.20.7104. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Sugita M., Manzara T., Pichersky E., Cashmore A., Gruissem W. Genomic organization, sequence analysis and expression of all five genes encoding the small subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase from tomato. Mol Gen Genet. 1987 Sep;209(2):247–256. doi: 10.1007/BF00329650. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Vieira J., Messing J. Production of single-stranded plasmid DNA. Methods Enzymol. 1987;153:3–11. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(87)53044-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Walling L., Drews G. N., Goldberg R. B. Transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of soybean seed protein mRNA levels. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Apr;83(7):2123–2127. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.7.2123. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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

RESOURCES