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The Arabidopsis KAKTUS gene encodes a HECT protein and controls the number of endoreduplication cycles

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Abstract

In animals and plants, many cell types switch from mitotic cycles to endoreduplication cycles during differentiation. Little is known about the way in which the number of endoreduplication cycles is controlled in such endopolyploid cells. In this study we have characterized at the molecular level three mutations in the Arabidopsis gene KAKTUS ( KAK), which were previously shown specifically to repress endoreduplication in trichomes. We show that KAK is also involved in the regulation of the number of endoreduplication cycles in various organs that are devoid of trichomes. KAK encodes a protein with sequence similarity to HECT domain proteins. As this class of proteins is known to be involved in ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation, our finding suggests that the number of endoreduplication cycles that occur in several cell types is controlled by this pathway. The KAK gene defines a monophylogenetic subgroup of HECT proteins that also contain Armadillo-like repeats.

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Acknowledgments

A.E.R. was the recipient of a fellowship from the Egyptian government. We are indebted to Renaud Blervaque for his help in the kanamycin rescue experiment, to Heda Dolezelova for left border cloning, and to Olivier Catrice for assistance with flow cytometry. We are indebted to the Kazusa DNA Research Institute and to N. Olszewski for plasmids. We also thank Anne Imberty for discussions on protein structures, and Gilles Vachon and Ali Hakimi for critical reading of the manuscript. The experiments described here have been carried out in compliance with French laws governing genetic experimentation

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Author notes

  1. N. Bechtold

    Present address: Medicago—Usine de molécules recombinantes, 1020 Route de l’Eglise, Bureau 600, Sainte-Foy, Québec, G1V 3V9, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR5575, Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire des Plantes, Université J.Fourier, 38041 , Grenoble 9, France

    A. El Refy, D. Perazza, L. Zekraoui, J-G. Valay, M. Herzog & J.-M. Bonneville

  2. Station de Génétique et d’Amélioration des Plantes, INRA, Route de St-Cyr, 78026, Versailles, France

    N. Bechtold

  3. UPR2355, Institut des Sciences du Végétal, CNRS, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    S. Brown

  4. Institut für Botanik III, Universität Köln, Gyrhofstr. 15, 50931, Köln, Germany

    M. Hülskamp

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  1. A. El Refy
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Correspondence to J.-M. Bonneville.

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Communicated by G. Jürgens

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El Refy, A., Perazza, D., Zekraoui, L. et al. The Arabidopsis KAKTUS gene encodes a HECT protein and controls the number of endoreduplication cycles. Mol Genet Genomics 270, 403–414 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-003-0932-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-003-0932-1

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