Developmental Regulation of Transposition in Arabidopsis

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

Tag1 is an autonomous transposable element in Arabidopsis thaliana. Tag1 excision and expression are restricted to the reproductive cell lineages in developing flowers. The long-term goal of this research is to elaborate the mechanisms and identify the host genes that control Tag1 excision and expression during plant development. The specific objectives of this project are as follows: (I) Elucidate the developmental control of Tag1 transposase expression by pinpointing the cells and stages of flower development in which Tag1 expression is active, localizing the cis-acting regulatory elements within Tag1 that are responsible for the developmental control of expression and identifying host regulatory genes. (II) Elucidate the developmental control of Tag1 excision by searching for host genes that regulate Tag1 excision, characterizing mutants/variants that have altered excision patterns, determining the effect of known mutations on Tag1 excision and cloning the gene encoding the host factor that binds to the 3' end of Tag1. Transposable elements provide powerful tools for studying development and gene function. They have been exploited for mutagenesis, gene shuttling, gene isolation and cell lineage studies. The research on the Tag1 transposon of the plant Arabidopsis will advance the study of (I) developmental and genetic regulation of transposition in plants, (II) control of plant development and (III) genome evolution.