Summary
cDNA clones were isolated from tissue specific cDNA libraries of barley and maize using as a probe the cDNA of the maize gene C1, a regulator of anthocyanin gene expression. C1-related homology for all of the four cDNAs characterized by sequence analysis is restricted to the N-terminal 120 amino acids of the putative proteins. This region shows striking homology to the N-proximal domain of the myb oncoproteins from vertebrates and invertebrates. Within the myb proto-oncogene family this part of the respective gene products functions as a DNA binding domain. Acidic domains are present in the C-proximal protein segments. Conservation of these sequences, together with the genetically defined regulator function of the C1 gene product, suggest that myb-related plant genes code for trans-acting factors which regulate gene expression in a given biosynthetic pathway.
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Communicated by R. Hagemann
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Marocco, A., Wissenbach, M., Becker, D. et al. Multiple genes are transcribed in Hordeum vulgare and Zea mays that carry the DNA binding domain of the myb oncoproteins. Mol Gen Genet 216, 183–187 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334354
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334354