INVESTIGADORES
GONZALEZ Daniel Hector
artículos
Título:
Homeoboxes in plant development
Autor/es:
CHAN, RAQUEL L.; GAGO, GABRIELA M.; PALENA, CLAUDIA M.; GONZALEZ, DANIEL H.
Revista:
BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA, N. GENE STRUCTURE AND EXPRESSION
Editorial:
ELSEVIER
Referencias:
Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 1998 vol. 1442 p. 1 - 19
ISSN:
0167-4781
Resumen:
The homeobox is a 180 bp consensus DNA sequence present in a number of
genes involved in developmental processes. This review focuses on the
structure and function of plant homeobox genes and of the proteins they
encode. Plant homeobox genes have been identified in studies using
mutants, degenerate oligonucleotides deduced from conserved sequences,
differential screening or binding to known promoters. According to
sequence conservation, plant homeoboxes can be subdivided into different
families, each comprising several members. Evolutionary studies
indicate that the different families have diverged prior to the
separation of the branches leading to animals, plants and fungi.
Accordingly, members of different families show characteristic
structural and functional properties. As an example, kn1-like genes seem
to be involved in different aspects of the control of cell fate
determination in the shoot meristem; HD-Zip genes, which encode proteins
containing a leucine zipper motif adjacent to the homeodomain, are
believed to operate at later stages of development; and gl2-like genes
are involved in epidermal cell differentiation. Future studies should be
oriented to discern the precise function of the many homeobox genes
present in plant genomes, and to evaluate their use as modifiers of
plant development.