W596A Comparative Transcriptome Analysis on Growth Regulation Between Seeds and Buds of Arabidopsis
Time: 5:40 PM
Plant growth is constrained by developmental and environmental cues. This growth constraint is strategic and determines plant’s architecture and competence of environmental adaptation. Dormancy is one form of growth arrest that commonly occurs in seeds and axillary buds. Transcriptomes of germinating seeds and axillary buds of Arabidopsis display some characteristic features in over-represented cis-acting elements in the promoters of genes whose expressions are associated with germination or axillary bud outgrowth. Two cis-acting elements, Up1 and Up2, are over-represented in the promoters of up-regulated genes during germination or axillary bud growth. Gene ontology classification indicated that genes containing Up1- or Up2-cis-acting elements are associated with protein synthesis and cell cycle. The synthetic promoter harboring both Up1 and Up2 elements activate growth-associated transcription in both seeds and buds. Additionally, promoters of genes down-regulated during seed germination or axillary bud outgrowth contain significant over-representation of abscisic acid-responsive elements (ABRE). The down-regulated genes containing ABRE promoter elements are enriched for processes related to metabolism and stress response in both seeds and axillary buds. Germination- and bud outgrowth-associated gene expressions belong to two types: co-expression in both organs and organ-specific expression. The co-expressed gene expressions are not restricted to seeds and buds, but can be observed throughout plant life. In the meeting, the feature of growth-associated transcriptomes will be discussed.
Eiji Nambara
Department of Cell & Systems Biology, University of Toronto
Email: eiji.nambara@utoronto.ca