NUCLEAR FACTOR Y Transcription Factors Have Both Opposing and Additive Roles in ABA-Mediated Seed Germination
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Date
2013-03-19Author
Roderick W. Kumimoto
Chamindika L. Siriwardana
Krystal K. Gayler
Jan R. Risinger
Nicholas Siefers
Ben F. Holt III
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In the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana the heterotrimeric transcription factor NUCLEAR FACTOR Y (NF-Y) has been shown to play multiple roles in facilitating plant growth and development. Although NF-Y itself represents a multi-protein transcriptional complex, recent studies have shown important interactions with other transcription factors, especially those in the bZIP family. Here we add to the growing evidence that NF-Y and bZIP form common complexes to affect many processes. We carried out transcriptional profiling on nf-yc mutants and through subsequent analyses found an enrichment of bZIP binding sites in the promoter elements of misregulated genes. Using NF-Y as bait, yeast two hybrid assays yielded interactions with bZIP proteins that are known to control ABA signaling. Accordingly, we find that plants mutant for several NF-Y subunits show characteristic phenotypes associated with the disruption of ABA signaling. While previous reports have shown additive roles for NF-YC family members in photoperiodic flowering, we found that they can have opposing roles in ABA signaling. Collectively, these results demonstrated the importance and complexity of NF-Y in the integration of environmental and hormone signals.
Citation
Kumimoto RW, Siriwardana CL, Gayler KK, Risinger JR, Siefers N, et al. (2013) NUCLEAR FACTOR Y Transcription Factors Have Both Opposing and Additive Roles in ABA-Mediated Seed Germination. PLoS ONE 8(3): e59481. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0059481