1. Enhancer trapping identifies TRI, an Arabidopsis gene up-regulated by pathogen infection
- Author
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Alan G. Williams, Aidong Yang, Katherine Coutts, Ingela Fridborg, Susan M. Angell, and Stuart A. MacFarlane
- Subjects
DNA, Bacterial ,Physiology ,Arabidopsis ,GUS reporter system ,Genes, Plant ,Plant Viruses ,Species Specificity ,Genes, Reporter ,Plant virus ,Tobacco ,Enhancer trap ,Enhancer ,Promoter Regions, Genetic ,Glucuronidase ,Plant Diseases ,Genetics ,Regulation of gene expression ,Reporter gene ,biology ,Base Sequence ,fungi ,food and beverages ,General Medicine ,biology.organism_classification ,Molecular biology ,Up-Regulation ,Alternative Splicing ,Enhancer Elements, Genetic ,Tobacco rattle virus ,Cauliflower mosaic virus ,Agronomy and Crop Science - Abstract
Enhancer trap Arabidopsis thaliana plants were screened for genes up-regulated by virus infection. The plants carried T-DNA insertions comprising a minimal -60-bp Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter fused to the β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene. Approximately 12,000 plants were assayed for GUS activity before and after rub-inoculation with Tobacco rattle virus (TRV) tagged with the green fluorescent protein (GFP). One plant and its progeny consistently showed upregulation of GUS activity in response to TRV-GFP infection, indicating that a virus-responsive enhancer element was “tagged” by the T-DNA in this line. Other viruses, bacteria, and oomycetes, but not wounding, up-regulated GUS activity in the enhancer trap line, indicating that the response was not specific to TRV-GFP infection. A pathogen-inducible, alternatively spliced gene was identified, which we have termed TRI for TRV-induced gene. A pathogen-responsive element was localized to a 1.1-kb region upstream of the T-DNA insertion, and two different cis-acting elements, both implicated in defense responses, were found in the sequence upstream of TRI. Sequence analyses revealed that TRI is similar to ACRE169, a gene that is up-regulated in Cf-9-expressing tobacco when treated with Avr-9, the Cladosporium fulvum elicitor of the Cf-9 resistance response.
- Published
- 2004