Brassinosteroid-Regulated Gene Expression

Abstract

Major brassinosteroid (BR) effects such as BR-induced growth are mediated through genomic pathways because RNA synthesis inhibitors and protein synthesis inhibitors interfere with these processes. A limited number of BR-regulated genes have been identified hitherto. The majority of genes (such as BRU1, CycD3,Lin6, OPR3, and TRIP-1) were identified by comparisons of BR-treated versus control-treated plants. However, altered transcript levels after BR application may not reflect normal physiological events. A complementary approach is the comparison of BR-deficient plants versus wild-type plants. No artificial treatments interfere with endogenous signaling pathways, but a subset of phenotypic alterations of phytohormone-deficient plants most probably is secondary. To identify genes that are subject to direct BR regulation, we analyzed CPD antisense anddwf1-6 (cbb1) mutant plants. Both show a mild phenotype in comparison with BR-deficient mutants such ascpd/cbb3, det2, anddwf4. Plants were grown under two different environments to filter out BR deficiency effects that occur only at certain environmental conditions. Finally, we established expression patterns after BR treatment of wild-type and dwf1-6(cbb1) plants. Ideally, a BR-regulated gene displays a dose-response relationship in such a way that a gene with decreased transcript levels in BR-deficient plants is BR inducible and vice versa. Expression profile analysis of above ground part of plants was performed by means of Affymetrix Arabidopsis Genome Arrays.