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Multiple cis-regulatory elements regulate distinct and complex patterns of developmental and wound-induced expression of Arabidopsis thaliana 4CL gene family members

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An Erratum to this article was published on 29 August 2006

Abstract

Lignin is an important biopolymer that is deposited in secondary cell walls of plant cells (e.g., tracheary elements) and in response to stresses such as wounding. Biosynthesis of lignin monomers occurs via the phenylpropanoid pathway, in which the enzyme 4-coumarate:CoA ligase (4CL) plays a key role by catalyzing the formation of hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA esters, subsequently reduced to the corresponding monolignols (hydroxycinnamoyl alcohols). 4CL is encoded by a family of four genes in Arabidopsis thaliana (At4CL1-At4CL4), which are developmentally regulated and co-expressed with other phenylpropanoid genes. We investigated in detail the wound-induced expression of At4CL1-At4CL4, and found that At4CL1 and At4CL2 mRNA accumulation follows biphasic kinetics over a period of 72 h, while At4CL4 expression is rapidly activated for a period of at least 12 h before declining. In order to localize cis-regulatory elements involved in the developmental and wound-induced regulation of the At4CL gene family members, At4CL promoter-beta-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene fusions were constructed and transferred into Arabidopsis plants. Analysis of these plants revealed that the promoter fragments direct discrete and distinct patterns of expression, some of which did not recapitulate expected patterns of wound-induced expression. The locations of regulatory elements associated with the At4CL2 gene were investigated in detail using a series of transgenic Arabidopsis plants containing promoter fragments and parts of the transcribed region of the gene fused to GUS. Positive and negative regulatory elements effective in modulating developmental expression or wound responsiveness of the gene were located both in the promoter and transcribed regions of the At4CL2 gene.

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Abbreviations

4CL:

4-Coumarate:CoA ligase

RT-PCR:

Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction

GUS:

Beta-glucuronidase

X-gluc:

5-Bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β-d-glucuronide

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Erich Kombrink, Max-Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany for the At4CL1::GUS and At4CL3::GUS lines and Ali Samaeian, Nahid Delroba, and Zahra Kazemi for technical assistance. BMS was partially supported by a fellowship from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Iran through Tarbiat Modarres University. This work was supported by a Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada to CJD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genetics Graduate Program, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4

    Bahram M. Soltani

  2. Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4

    Bahram M. Soltani, Björn Hamberger & Carl J. Douglas

  3. Institute for Plant Molecular Biology, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 67000, Strasbourg, France

    Jürgen Ehlting

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  1. Bahram M. Soltani
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  2. Jürgen Ehlting
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  3. Björn Hamberger
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  4. Carl J. Douglas
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Correspondence to Carl J. Douglas.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00425-006-0377-y

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Soltani, B.M., Ehlting, J., Hamberger, B. et al. Multiple cis-regulatory elements regulate distinct and complex patterns of developmental and wound-induced expression of Arabidopsis thaliana 4CL gene family members. Planta 224, 1226–1238 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-006-0296-y

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