Plant and Cell Physiology Advance Access originally published online on January 23, 2009
Plant and Cell Physiology 2009 50(3):515-527; doi:10.1093/pcp/pcp011
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VAJ/GFA1/CLO is Involved in the Directional Control of Floral Organ Growth
1Department of Botany, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa-Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto, 606-8502 Japan
2Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST), Japan
*Corresponding author: E-mail, kiyo{at}nibb.ac.jp; Fax, +81-564-55-7656, 4386.
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Abstract |
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Flowers assume variant forms of reproductive structures, a phenomenon which may be partially due to the diversity among species in the shape and size of floral organs. However, the organ size and shape of flowers usually remain constant within a species when grown under the same environmental conditions. The molecular and genetic mechanisms that control organ size and shape are largely unknown. We isolated an Arabidopsis mutant, vajra-1 (vaj-1), exhibiting defects in the regulation of floral organ size and shape. In vaj-1, alterations in the size and shape of floral organs were caused by changes in both cell size and cell number. The vaj-1 mutation also affected the number of floral organs. In vaj-1, a mutation was found in GAMETOPHYTIC FACTOR 1 (GFA1)/CLOTHO (CLO), recently shown to be required for female gametophyte development. The VAJ/GFA1/CLO gene encodes a translational elongation factor-2 (EF-2) family protein, of which the human U5-116kD and yeast Snu114p counterparts are U5 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP)-specific proteins. A transient expression assay using Arabidopsis protoplasts revealed that VAJ protein co-localized with SC35, a serine/arginine-rich (SR) protein involved in pre-mRNA splicing. Our results showed that VAJ/GFA1/CLO has a novel role in the directional control of floral organ growth in Arabidopsis, possibly acting through pre-mRNA splicing.
Keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana - Directional organ growth - Floral organ development - Pre-mRNA splicing.
Abbreviations: BAC, bacterial artificial chromosome; Ds-RED, Discosoma sp. red fluorescent protein; EF-2, translational elongation factor-2; GFP, green fluorescent protein; GUS, β-glucuronidase; mRFP, monomeric red fluorescent protein; NMD, nonsense-mediated decay; ORF, open reading frame; PTC, premature translation termination codon; RACE, rapid amplification of cDNA ends; RT–PCR, reverse transcription–PCR; snRNP, small nuclear ribonucleoprotein; SR, serine/arginine-rich; UTR, untranslated region.
3Present address: Developmental Morphology Research Group, Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, 8916-5 Takayama, Ikoma, Nara, 630-0192 Japan
4Present address: National Institute for Basic Biology, Myodaiji, Okazaki, Aichi, 444-8585 Japan
(Received December 1, 2008; Accepted January 20, 2009)
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