A high-throughput screening system for Arabidopsis transcription factors and its application to Med25-dependent transcriptional regulation

Mol Plant. 2011 May;4(3):546-55. doi: 10.1093/mp/ssr002. Epub 2011 Feb 22.

Abstract

The activities of transcription factors (TFs) require interactions with specific DNA sequences and other regulatory proteins. To detect such interactions in Arabidopsis, we developed a high-throughput screening system with a Gateway-compatible Gal4-AD-TF library of 1589 Arabidopsis TFs, which can be easily screened by mating-based yeast-one-hybrid (Y1H) and yeast-two-hybrid (Y2H) methods. The efficiency of the system was validated by examining two well-characterized TF-DNA and TF-protein interactions: the CHE-CCA1 promoter interaction by Y1H and NPR1-TGAs interactions by Y2H. We used this system to identify eight TFs that interact with a Mediator subunit, Med25, a key regulator in JA signaling. We identified five TFs that interacted with the GCC-box cis-element in the promoter of PDF1.2, a downstream gene of Med25. We found that three of these TFs, all from the AP2-EREBP family, interact directly both with Med25 and the GCC-box of PDF1.2, suggesting that Med25 regulates PDF1.2 expression through these three TFs. These results demonstrate that this high-throughput Y1H/Y2H screening system is an efficient tool for studying transcriptional regulation networks in Arabidopsis. This system will be available for other Arabidopsis researchers, and thus it provides a vital resource for the Arabidopsis community.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Arabidopsis / genetics*
  • Arabidopsis / metabolism*
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / metabolism*
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant*
  • Gene Library
  • High-Throughput Screening Assays / methods*
  • Models, Biological
  • Nuclear Proteins / metabolism*
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic / genetics
  • Protein Binding
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism*
  • Transcription, Genetic*

Substances

  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • PFT1 protein, Arabidopsis
  • Transcription Factors