Project description:We identified the binding site of the transcription factor CAMT-1/CAMTA in C. elegans by ChIP-seq and examined the changes of binding sites in egl-19(lf) and egl-19(gf) mutants
Project description:The ubiquitous Ca2+ sensor calmodulin (CaM) binds and regulates many proteins, including ion channels, CaM kinases, and calcineurin, according to Ca2+-CaM levels. What regulates neuronal CaM levels, is, however, unclear. CaM-binding transcription activators (CAMTAs) are ancient proteins expressed broadly in nervous systems and whose loss confers pleiotropic behavioral defects in flies, mice, and humans. Using Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila, we show that CAMTAs control neuronal CaM levels. The behavioral and neuronal Ca2+ signaling defects in mutants lacking camt-1, the sole C. elegans CAMTA, can be rescued by supplementing neuronal CaM. CAMT-1 binds multiple sites in the CaM promoter and deleting these sites phenocopies camt-1. Our data suggest CAMTAs mediate a conserved and general mechanism that controls neuronal CaM levels, thereby regulating Ca2+ signaling, physiology, and behavior.
Project description:In view of the continuous salinization of arable lands world-wide, there is an urgent need to better understand the mechanisms underlying plant responses to salt stress at different stages of their development. We investigated the role of calmodulin (CaM)-binding transcription activator 6 (CAMTA6) under salinity stress during early germination in Arabidopsis. These analyses suggest that ABA signaling is involved in CAMTA6-dependent salt-responsive gene expression, consistent with the ABA hyper-tolerance phenotype and the lack of HKT1 response to ABA and NaCl in the camta6 mutants.
Project description:BackgroundTranscription factors (TF) play a crucial role in regulating gene expression and are fit to regulate diverse cellular processes by interacting with other proteins. A TF named calmodulin binding transcription activator (CAMTA) was identified in Arabidopsis thaliana (AtCAMTA1-6). To explore the role of CAMTA1 in drought response, the phenotypic differences and gene expression was studied between camta1 and Col-0 under drought condition.ResultsIn camta1, root development was abolished showing high-susceptibility to induced osmotic stress resulting in small wrinkled rosette leaves and stunted primary root. In camta1 under drought condition, we identified growth retardation, poor WUE, low photosystem II efficiency, decline in RWC and higher sensitivity to drought with reduced survivability. The microarray analysis of drought treated camta1 revealed that CAMTA1 regulates "drought recovery" as most indicative pathway along with other stress response, osmotic balance, apoptosis, DNA methylation and photosynthesis. Interestingly, majority of positively regulated genes were related to plasma membrane and chloroplast. Further, our analysis indicates that CAMTA1 regulates several stress responsive genes including RD26, ERD7, RAB18, LTPs, COR78, CBF1, HSPs etc. and promoter of these genes were enriched with CAMTA recognition cis-element. CAMTA1 probably regulate drought recovery by regulating expression of AP2-EREBP transcription factors and Abscisic acid response.ConclusionCAMTA1 rapidly changes broad spectrum of responsive genes of membrane integrity and photosynthetic machinery by generating ABA response for challenging drought stress. Our results demonstrate the important role of CAMTA1 in regulating drought response in Arabidopsis, thus could be genetically engineered for improving drought tolerance in crop.
Project description:The interaction partners of C. elegans soluble IL-17 signaling components were profiled using IP/MS. In vivo interactions were profiled for ACTL-1-FLAG, PIK-1-Myc, MALT-1::GFP, NFKI-1::GFP and their respective controls. Quantification of NFKI-1::GFP interactions was performed by labelling immunoprecipitated proteins using tandem mass tags.
Project description:Screening of cDNA expression libraries with labelled calmodulin (CaM) as a probe resulted in the isolation of cDNA encoding proteins designated CAMTA (for calmodulin-binding transcription activators). The Arabidopsis genome contains 6 members of this protein family (AtCAMTA1-6) all containing in addition to a defined CaM-binding domain a DNA-binding domain and ankyrin-repeat motifs. RT-PCR analysis revealed that all 6 genes are expressed in all organ throughout plant development. Therefore functional regulation of AtCAMTA proteins is likely mediated by second messengers (e.g. calcium/calmodulin signalling) and protein levels rather than by or in addition to gene expression levels. Based on domain organisation and sequence homologies we identified putative members of this protein family in C. elegans and in human. A yeast system was used to express chimeric fusion proteins comprised of the DNA-binding domain of the bacterial LexA protein with various segments of AtCAMTA1. This analysis revealed a distinct domain of AtCAMTA1 capable of activating transcription. Similar results were obtained with two human CAMTA homologues. To identify the gene targets of CAMTA proteins in Arabidopsiswe plan to analyse the transcriptome in loss_of_function and gain_of_function AtCAMTA mutants. For this we have already isolated a T-DNA insertion mutant of AtCAMTA1 (two alleles) and have requested two other insertion mutants of AtCAMTA2 and AtCAMTA3 identified in other labs. Screening for insertion mutants in the three remaining genes is underway. In addition we have initiated a gain_of_function approach in which DL10 proteins are expressed under the control of the dexamethasone-inducible promoter. Genes whose expression will be found modulated in the mutant plants will be considered candidate targets of AtCAMTA proteins. This analysis will complement an in vitro study of DNA-protein interactions to identify target-binding sites (part of the BBSRC funded project). As a first step in the project proposed to GARNet we suggest to compare the transcriptome in WT whole plants (2 weeks old) with that of three T-DNA insertion AtCAMTA mutants and one line expressing AtCAMTA1 under the control of an inducible promoter. Keywords: strain_or_line_design