Poster: Regulation of gene expression

Abs # 781: Genes potentially regulated by ASK1 gene during early anther development in Arabidopsis

Presenter:	Sun, Yujin , yxs153@psu.edu
Authors	Sun, Yujin  (A)   zhang, wei  (A)   Wijeratne, Asela  (A)   Liu, Wenlei  (B)   Ma, Hong  (A)
Affiliations:	(A): Department of Biology and the Huck Institute for Life Science, The Penn State Unviersity, University Park,, PA16802 (B): Department of Health Evaluation Sciences Penn State College of Medicine Hershey, PA17033

Meiosis and proteolysis are two important processes during plant development. Arabidopsis SKP1 like (ASK1) gene is involved in both processes. As one essential component of SCF complexes, which are members of the largest and best studied family of E3 protein ubiquitin ligases involved in proteolysis, ASK1 was found to be essential for male meiosis, flower development, and other processes. In particular, ASK1 interacts with other genes to promote the expression of floral regulators AP3 and PI, which are required for normal anther development. Although the essential functions of ASK1 gene have been recognized, the detailed mechanisms involved in those multiple functions are still limited. Especially, information of the genes regulated by the ASK1 gene is not available yet. In this study, we took advantage of the microarray technology, which can provide global expression profiles quickly, to identify potential genes regulated by ASK1 gene. Anthers (anther stage 4-6) from wild type (WT) and ask1 mutant plants were collected. RNA samples from these tissues were prepared for microarray hybridization. 14393 genes have been found to be expressed during the wild type early anther development, while 13257 genes are in ask1 early anther development. Detailed comparative data analysis showed that 12893 genes are expressed in both WT and ask1 early anther developmental stage. Especially, the expression levels of 321 genes show at least 3 fold changes in ask1 mutants compared to WT plants. We consider these genes as potential targets regulated by ASK1, either directly or indirectly. Further investigation of these genes and focused functional study on selected genes may help characterize ASK1 functional pathways.