Characterization of ufm1 (ubiquitin fold modifier) gene involved in seed development

P. CORNEJO; R. W. MASUELLI

Congreso; XLVIII Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Bioquímica y Biología Molecular; 2012

Seed development is a critical process in life cycle of higher plants, the spatial and temporal genes expression is a highly regulated process. A posttranslational modification of proteins is one of the main mechanisms to regulate gene expression, adding small polypeptides such as ubiquitin. A sequence homologous to ubiquitin fold modifier 1 (ufm1) gene was identify in differential expression assay from inmature seeds of intra and interspecific crosses between wild species of Solanum. The seeds of interspecific crosses showed low viability, about 0.2%, and abnormalities at the embryo and endosperm. Mutants of ufm1 were obtained in Arabidopsis thaliana but there are not information about the phenotype and function of the gene. To analyze the ufm1 gene effect in seed development we used an Arabidopsis mutant (SALK 040955). A phenotypic analysis of the vegetative parts of mutant plants showed no obvious difference compared with wild-type plants. Siliques of mutant plants, however, contained around 25% of viable seeds. These results suggest that changes in gene expression of ufm1 affect seed development, as observed in wild potato interespecific crosses.