Dataset Information

Molecular characterisation of two paralogous SPO11 homologues in Arabidopsis thaliana.

ABSTRACT: The Spo11 protein of yeast has been found to be covalently bound to double-strand breaks in meiosis, demonstrating a unique role of the protein in the formation of these breaks. Homologues of the SPO11 gene have been found in various eukaryotes, indicating that the machinery involved in meiotic recombination is conserved in eukaryotes. Here we report on SPO11 homologues in plants. In contrast to what is known from other eukaryotes, Arabidopsis thaliana carries in its genome at least two SPO11 homologues, AtSPO11-1 and AtSPO11-2. Both genes are not more closely related to each other than to other eukaryotic SPO11 homologues, indicating that they did not arise via a recent duplication event during higher plant evolution. For both genes three different poly-adenylation sites were found. AtSPO11-1 is expressed not only in generative but also to a lesser extent in somatic tissues. We were able to detect in different organs various AtSPO11-1 cDNAs in which introns were differently spliced-a surprising phenomenon also reported for SPO11 homologues in mammals. In the case of AtSPO11-2 we found that the 3' end of the mRNA is overlapping with a mRNA produced by a gene located in inverse orientation next to it. This points to a possible antisense regulation mechanism. Our findings hint to the intriguing possibility that, at least for plants, Spo11-like proteins might have more and possibly other biological functions than originally anticipated for yeast.

SUBMITTER: Hartung F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC102794 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Molecular characterisation of two paralogous SPO11 homologues in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Hartung F F Puchta H H

Nucleic acids research 20000401 7

The Spo11 protein of yeast has been found to be covalently bound to double-strand breaks in meiosis, demonstrating a unique role of the protein in the formation of these breaks. Homologues of the SPO11 gene have been found in various eukaryotes, indicating that the machinery involved in meiotic recombination is conserved in eukaryotes. Here we report on SPO11 homologues in plants. In contrast to what is known from other eukaryotes, Arabidopsis thaliana carries in its genome at least two SPO11 ho ...[more]

PMID: 10710421

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Project description:BACKGROUND: Receptor-like kinases are a prominent class of surface receptors that regulate many aspects of the plant life cycle. Despite recent advances the function of most receptor-like kinases remains elusive. Therefore, it is paramount to investigate these receptors. The task is complicated by the fact that receptor-like kinases belong to a large monophyletic family with many sub-clades. In general, functional analysis of gene family members by reverse genetics is often obscured by several issues, such as redundancy, subtle or difficult to detect phenotypes in mutants, or by decision problems regarding suitable biological and biochemical assays. Therefore, in many cases additional strategies have to be employed to allow inference of hypotheses regarding gene function. RESULTS: We approached the function of genes encoding the nine-member STRUBBELIG-RECEPTOR FAMILY (SRF) class of putative leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases. Sequence comparisons show overall conservation but also divergence in predicted functional domains among SRF proteins. Interestingly, SRF1 undergoes differential splicing. As a result, SRF1 is predicted to exist in a standard receptor configuration and in a membrane-anchored receptor-like version that lacks most of the intracellular domain. Furthermore, SRF1 is characterised by a high degree of polymorphism between the Ler and Col accessions. Two independent T-DNA-based srf4 mutants showed smaller leaves while 35S::SRF4 plants displayed enlarged leaves. This is in addition to the strubbelig phenotype which has been described before. Additional single and several key double mutant combinations did not reveal obvious mutant phenotypes. Ectopic expression of several SRF genes, using the 35S promoter, resulted in male sterility. To gain possible insights into SRF gene function we employed a computational analysis of publicly available microarray data. We performed global expression profiling, coexpression analysis, and an analysis of the enrichment of gene ontology terms among coexpressed genes. The bioinformatic analyses raise the possibility that some SRF genes affect different aspects of cell wall biology. The results also indicate that redundancy is a minor aspect of the SRF family. CONCLUSION: The results provide evidence that SRF4 is a positive regulator of leaf size. In addition, they suggest that the SRF family is characterised by functional diversity and that some SRF genes may function in cell wall biology. They also indicate that complementing reverse genetics with bioinformatical data mining of genome-wide expression data aids in inferring hypotheses on possible functions for members of a gene family.

Project description:The SeedGenes database (www.seedgenes.org) contains information on more than 400 genes required for embryo development in Arabidopsis. Many of these EMBRYO-DEFECTIVE (EMB) genes encode proteins with an essential function required throughout the life cycle. This raises a fundamental question. Why does elimination of an essential gene in Arabidopsis often result in embryo lethality rather than gametophyte lethality? In other words, how do mutant (emb) gametophytes survive and participate in fertilization when an essential cellular function is disrupted? Furthermore, why do some mutant embryos proceed further in development than others? To address these questions, we first established a curated dataset of genes required for gametophyte development in Arabidopsis based on information extracted from the literature. This provided a basis for comparison with EMB genes obtained from the SeedGenes dataset. We also identified genes that exhibited both embryo and gametophyte defects when disrupted by a loss-of-function mutation. We then evaluated the relationship between mutant phenotype, gene redundancy, mutant allele strength, gene expression pattern, protein function, and intracellular protein localization to determine what factors influence the phenotypes of lethal mutants in Arabidopsis. After removing cases where continued development potentially resulted from gene redundancy or residual function of a weak mutant allele, we identified numerous examples of viable mutant (emb) gametophytes that required further explanation. We propose that the presence of gene products derived from transcription in diploid (heterozygous) sporocytes often enables mutant gametophytes to survive the loss of an essential gene in Arabidopsis. Whether gene disruption results in embryo or gametophyte lethality therefore depends in part on the ability of residual, parental gene products to support gametophyte development. We also highlight here 70 preglobular embryo mutants with a zygotic pattern of inheritance, which provide valuable insights into the maternal-to-zygotic transition in Arabidopsis and the timing of paternal gene activation during embryo development.

Dataset Information

Molecular characterisation of two paralogous SPO11 homologues in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Publications

Molecular characterisation of two paralogous SPO11 homologues in Arabidopsis thaliana.

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