Temporary expression of the TAF10 gene and its requirement for normal development of Arabidopsis thaliana

Tamada Yosuke

Nakamori Kazuki

Nakatani Hiromi

Matsuda Kentaro

Hata Shingo

Furumoto Tsuyoshi

Izui Katsura

Plant and Cell Physiology

TAF10 is one of the TATA box-binding protein (TBP)-associated factors (TAFs), which constitute a TFIID with a TBP. Initially most TAFs were thought to be necessary for accurate transcription initiation from a broad group of core promoters. However, it was recently revealed that several TAFs are expressed in limited tissues during animal embryogenesis, and are indispensable for normal development of the tissues. They are called "selective" TAFs. In plants, however, little is known as to thus "selective" TAFs and their function. Here we isolated the Arabidopsis thaliana TAF10 gene (atTAF10), which is a single gene closely related to the TAF10 genes of other organisms. atTAF10 was expressed transiently during the development of several organs such as lateral roots, rosette leaves and most floral organs. Such an expression pattern was clearly distinct from that of Arabidopsis Rpb1, which encodes a component of RNA polymerase II, suggesting that atTAF10 functions in not only general transcription but also the selective expression of a subset of genes. In a knockdown mutant of atTAF10, we observed several abnormal phenotypes involved in meristem activity and leaf development, suggesting that atTAF10 is concerned in pleiotropic, but selected morphological events in Arabidopsis. These results clearly demonstrate that TAF10 is a "selective" TAF in plants, providing a new insight into the function of TAFs in plants.

TAF10

general transcription factor

morphogenesis

T-DNA insertion mutant

Arabidopsis thaliana

Biology [ 460 ]

eng

Oxford University Press

Copyright (c) The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists.

[ISSN] 0032-0781

[DOI] 10.1093/pcp/pcl048

[NCID] AA0077511X

[DOI] http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pcp/pcl048