Functions of Auxin Response Factors

0116106芦苇植物激素生长素控制多种发育过程，包括茎的伸长，芽和根的分枝，朝向或远离光或重力的弯曲，以及各种组织的图案。 生长素反应因子（ARF）是一类调节生长素诱导和抑制基因表达的转录因子家族，在调节生长素诱导和抑制基因表达中具有重要作用。 本项目将重点研究ARF 6和ARF 8的功能和相互作用，这两个ARF在模式植物拟南芥中激活基因以响应生长素。 该项目的目标是：i）通过表征arf 6和arf 8突变体植物和过表达表位标记的ARF 6或ARF 8的转基因植物的表型来发现这两种转录因子的发育功能; ii）通过将未经处理或生长素处理的野生型和突变体植物制成的探针与含有代表数千个拟南芥基因的DNA的基因芯片杂交来鉴定ARF 6和ARF 8调节的基因; iii）通过构建arf 6和arf 8之间的双突变体和IAA基因中的选定突变并检查它们的表型，探索ARF 6和ARF 8与相关Aux/IAA家族的选定蛋白质之间的功能相互作用; iv）产生ARF 6和ARF 8特异性抗肽抗体;和v）使用这些抗体和表位标记的蛋白质来研究ARF 6和ARF 8是否与体内其它蛋白质相互作用。 这些研究将提供ARF 6和ARF 8功能的多方面观点，为其他类似分析奠定基础。

0116106ReedThe plant hormone auxin controls multiple developmental processes including elongation of stems, branching of shoots and roots, bending toward or away from light or gravity, and patterning of various tissues. Auxin Response Factors (ARFs) are a family transcription factors that regulate induction and repression of genes in response to auxin, and therefore have key functions in mediating these developmental processes. This project will focus on functions and interactions of ARF6 and ARF8, two ARFs in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana that activate genes in response to auxin. The aims of the project are i) to discover developmental functions of these two transcription factors by characterizing phenotypes of arf6 and arf8 mutant plants and of transgenic plants that overexpress epitope-tagged ARF6 or ARF8; ii) to identify genes that ARF6 and ARF8 regulate by hybridizing probes made from untreated or auxin-treated wild-type and mutant plants to gene chips containing DNA representing thousands of Arabidopsis genes; iii) to explore functional interactions between ARF6 and ARF8 and selected proteins of the related Aux/IAA family, by constructing double mutants between arf6 and arf8 and selected mutations in IAA genes and examining their phenotypes; iv) to raise ARF6- and ARF8-specific anti-peptide antibodies; and v) to use these antibodies and the epitope-tagged proteins to study whether ARF6 and ARF8 interact with other proteins in vivo. These studies will provide a multifaceted view of the functions of ARF6 and ARF8, setting the stage for similar analyses of other