Abstract
Small nuclear RNA (snRNA) is a class of eukaryotic noncoding RNAs, which have essential roles in pre-mRNA splicing and rRNA processing. As these functions are fundamental to cell activities, the regulation of snRNA transcription should be a vital issue for all eukaryotes. Here we address developmental control of snRNA transcription and its significance through the analysis of the SRD2 gene of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), which encodes an activator of snRNA transcription. In young seedlings, a high level of SRD2 expression was observed in shoot and root apical meristems, leaf primordia, and root stele tissues, where a large amount of snRNA accumulated. In mature plants, SRD2 was highly expressed in developing leaves and flowers as well as apical meristems. Mutations in the SRD2 gene interfered with many, but not all, aspects of development in the regions that showed strong expression of SRD2. Of note, establishment of the fully active state of apical meristems in the seedling stage was very sensitive to the srd2-1 mutation, while maintenance of the established meristems was substantially insensitive. These results demonstrated differential requirement for the SRD2 function in various stages of plant development.
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Abbreviations
- Col:
-
Columbia
- GUS:
-
β-Glucuronidase
- Ler :
-
Landsberg erecta
- RAM:
-
Root apical meristem
- rRNA:
-
Ribosomal RNA
- SAM:
-
Shoot apical meristem
- snRNA:
-
Small nuclear RNA
- snoRNA:
-
Small nucleolar RNA
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Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Bernd Weisshaar (MPI for Plant Breeding Research) for providing the GABI-Kat 430F02 line and ABRC for providing the SAIL_99_D12 line. We also thank Dr. Toshiyuki Nagata and Dr. Asuka Kuwabara (University of Tokyo) for provision of a confocal laser scanning microscope and Dr. Masahiro Kanaoka (Nagoya University), Dr. Minako Ueda (University of Freiburg), and Dr. Masahiko Furutani (Nara Institute of Science and Technology) for technical advice. This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (grant no. 18870028 to M.O. and no. 18370016 to M.S.) and from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (grant no. 17027003 to M.S.).
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11103_2007_9271_MOESM1_ESM.tif
Effects of the srd2-3 mutation on embryogenesis. (A and B) Opened siliques of SRD2/SRD2 (A) and SRD2/srd2-3 (B). (C and D) Normal (C) and aborted (D) seeds in the same young silique of SRD2/srd2-3. Scale bars = 1 mm (A and B), 50 mm (C and D) (TIF 585 kb)
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Ohtani, M., Demura, T. & Sugiyama, M. Differential requirement for the function of SRD2, an snRNA transcription activator, in various stages of plant development. Plant Mol Biol 66, 303–314 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-007-9271-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-007-9271-7