Reconstitution of 'floral quartets' in vitro involving class B and class E floral homeotic proteins.

ABSTRACT: Homeotic MADS box genes encoding transcription factors specify the identity of floral organs by interacting in a combinatorial way. The 'floral quartet model', published several years ago, pulled together several lines of evidence suggesting that floral homeotic proteins bind as tetramers to two separated DNA sequence elements termed 'CArG boxes' by looping the intervening DNA. However, experimental support for 'floral quartet' formation remains scarce. Recently, we have shown that the class E floral homeotic protein SEPALLATA3 (SEP3) is sufficient to loop DNA in floral-quartet-like complexes in vitro. Here, we demonstrate that the class B floral homeotic proteins APETALA3 (AP3) and PISTILLATA (PI) do only weakly, at best, form floral-quartet-like structures on their own. However, they can

SUBMITTER: Melzer R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2677882 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature