a role for bellringer in cell wall development is supported by loss-of-function phenotypes有缘在细胞壁的作用发展支持功能丧失的表型.pdfVIP

Etchells et al. BMC Plant Biology 2012, 12:212 /1471-2229/12/212 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access A role for BELLRINGER in cell wall development is supported by loss-of-function phenotypes 1,3*† 1† 1,4 1 1,5 2,6 J Peter Etchells , Lucy Moore , Wen Zhi Jiang , Helen Prescott , Richard Capper , Nigel J Saunders , Anuj M Bhatt1 and Hugh G Dickinson1* Abstract Background: Homeodomain transcription factors play critical roles in metazoan development. BELLRINGER (BLR), one such transcription factor, is involved in diverse developmental processes in Arabidopsis, acting in vascular differentiation, phyllotaxy, flower and fruit development. BLR also has a redundant role in meristem maintenance. Cell wall remodelling underpins many of these processes, and BLR has recently been shown to regulate expression of PECTIN METHYL-ESTERASE 5 (PME5), a cell wall modifying enzyme in control of phyllotaxy. We have further explored the role of BLR in plant development by analysing phenotypes and gene expression in a series of plants over-expressing BLR, and generating combinatorial mutants with blr, brevipedicellus (bp), a member of the KNOX1 family of transcription factors that has previously been shown to interact with blr, and the homeodomain transcription factor revoluta (rev), required for radial patterning of the stem. Results: Plants over-expressing BLR exhibited a wide range of phenotypes. Some were defective in cell size and demonstrated misregulation of genes predominantly affecting cell wall development. Other lines with more extreme phenotypes failed to generate lateral organs, consistent with BLR repressing transcription in the shoot apex. Cell wall dynamics are also affected in blr