Zea mays Taxilin protein negatively regulates opaque-2 transcriptional activity by causing a change in its sub-cellular distribution

PLoS One. 2012;7(8):e43822. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0043822. Epub 2012 Aug 24.

Abstract

Zea mays (maize) Opaque-2 (ZmO2) protein is an important bZIP transcription factor that regulates the expression of major storage proteins (22-kD zeins) and other important genes during maize seed development. ZmO2 is subject to functional regulation through protein-protein interactions. To unveil the potential regulatory network associated with ZmO2, a protein-protein interaction study was carried out using the truncated version of ZmO2 (O2-2) as bait in a yeast two-hybrid screen with a maize seed cDNA library. A protein with homology to Taxilin was found to have stable interaction with ZmO2 in yeast and was designated as ZmTaxilin. Sequence analysis indicated that ZmTaxilin has a long coiled-coil domain containing three conserved zipper motifs. Each of the three zipper motifs is individually able to interact with ZmO2 in yeast. A GST pull-down assay demonstrated the interaction between GST-fused ZmTaxilin and ZmO2 extracted from developing maize seeds. Using onion epidermal cells as in vivo assay system, we found that ZmTaxilin could change the sub-cellular distribution of ZmO2. We also demonstrated that this change significantly repressed the transcriptional activity of ZmO2 on the 22-kD zein promoter. Our study suggests that a Taxilin-mediated change in sub-cellular distribution of ZmO2 may have important functional consequences for ZmO2 activity.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Basic-Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Basic-Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / genetics*
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Plant Proteins / genetics*
  • Plant Proteins / metabolism
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Transcription Factors / genetics*
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • Transcriptional Activation
  • Vesicular Transport Proteins / genetics*
  • Vesicular Transport Proteins / metabolism
  • Zea mays / genetics*
  • Zea mays / metabolism
  • Zein / genetics*
  • Zein / metabolism

Substances

  • Basic-Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Plant Proteins
  • Transcription Factors
  • Vesicular Transport Proteins
  • opaque-2 protein, Zea mays
  • Zein

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2012AA10A305, 2009CB118400; http://www.most.gov.cn/eng/index.htm), the Natural Sciences Foundation of China (30671303; http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/e_nsfc/desktop/zn/0101.htm) and Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (11DZ2272100; http://www.stcsm.gov.cn/structure/index.htm). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.