IAL   21557
INSTITUTO DE AGROBIOTECNOLOGIA DEL LITORAL
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Secrets of the plant family of transcription factors homeodomain-leucine zipper I
Autor/es:
CAPELLA, MATIAS; RE, DELFINA A; RIBONE, PAMELA A; ARCE, AGUSTIN L; CABELLO, JULIETA V; GIACOMELLI, JORGE I; MORA, CELESTE; MORENO, JAVIER E; CHAN, RAQUEL L
Lugar:
Buenos Aires
Reunión:
Congreso; XLIX Reunión Anual Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular; 2013
Resumen:
HD-Zip proteins are transcription factors unique to plants, exhibiting a homeodomain (HD) associated to a Leucine zipper (Zip) motif. These proteins were associated to plant responses to environmental conditions. All the studied members of the subfamily bind the same pseudopalindromic sequence CAAT(A/T)ATTG and exhibit similar expression patterns. However, when they were constitutively expressed in transgenic plants, different phenotypes were generated. A deep sequence analysis of HD-Zip I subfamily enabled the identification of conserved motifs in the C terminal region of most of the 178 proteins studied. These conserved motifs seem to be responsible for the different functions of these TFs. In order to test this hypothesis, molecular and functional studies were carried out in our lab. Among the 17 Arabidopsis thaliana HD-Zip I members, some are apparently duplicated. Compositae species exhibit divergent proteins not present in model plants. Functional characterization of four Arabidopsis HD-Zip I (AtHB7, AtHB12, AtHB1 and AtHB13) and two of sunflower (HaHB4 and HaHB11) confirmed the involvement of these TFs in developmental events in response to abiotic stresses. A few could be biotechnological tools as transgenes conferring stress tolerance and improved yield to improve crops. Molecular basis of similarities and differences as well as open questions will be discussed.