Tag: Gene Regulation

The G-box (CACGTG) is a DNA element widespread in plant genomes and recognized by two large families of transcription factors (TFs), the basic leucine zipper family (bZIP) and the basic-helix-loop-helix (bHLH) family. Members of these TF families contribute to growth, temperature and light signaling,…

Nucleosomes, composed of histones, pack chromatin and make genes less available for transcription. Methylation of some histone positions is associated with repression of transcription and epigenetic silencing of some genes. After cell division during the cell cycle, maintenance of expression patterns…

Tenreira et al. find a gene responsible for the differentiation of the stolon in strawberry. The Plant Cell 2017. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.16.00949 Asexual reproduction produces offspring that are genetically identical to the parents. This process takes many forms in flowering plants, including…

Liu et al. focus on transcriptional regulation of PHR1 expression. The Plant Cell 2017. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00268 Phosphorus (P) is an essential micronutrient for plant growth, development, and metabolism. Phosphate (Pi), the major form of P used by plants, is highly immobile in most soils,…

Su et al. look at chromatin modifications that affect flowering. The Plant Cell 2017. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00266 Plants, unlike animals, begin their lives as seeds that – in flowering plants – develop from flowers. This depends upon proper regulation of flowering time, to ensure pollination,…

The gene FLC (FLOWERING LOCUS C) is a repressor of flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana. It needs to be silenced after exposure to prolonged cold for plants to be able to flower. The memory of winter leads to changes in the methylation state of Histone 3 associated with FLC in two steps: first by recruiting…

It becomes more and more clear that regulation of complex traits and processes, such as root growth and lateral root growth, involves not only gene expression quality (which genes are expressed), quantity (how much transcript is present) and space (in which cell-type transcripts are accumulating) but…

Perception of the phytohormone ethylene results in the cleavage of EIN2 and translocation to the nucleus of its C-terminal end, EIN2-C. Zhang et al. showed that EIN2-C is essential for chromatin modification that allows EIN3, the main ethylene signaling transcription factor, to transcriptionally regulate…