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GENOME ANALYSIS

Tissue-Specific Expression Patterns of Arabidopsis NF-Y Transcription Factors Suggest Potential for Extensive Combinatorial Complexity^1,[W],[OA]

Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599 (N.S., K.K.D., W.E.B., G.T., B.F.H.); and Department of Botany and Microbiology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019 (N.S., R.W.K., B.F.H.)

All aspects of plant and animal development are controlled by complex networks of transcription factors. Transcription factors are essential for converting signaling inputs, such as changes in daylength, into complex gene regulatory outputs. While some transcription factors control gene expression by binding to cis-regulatory elements as individual subunits, others function in a combinatorial fashion. How individual subunits of combinatorial transcription factors are spatially and temporally deployed (e.g. expression-level, posttranslational modifications and subcellular localization) has profound effects on their control of gene expression. In the model plant Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), we have identified 36 Nuclear Factor Y (NF-Y) transcription factor subunits (10 NF-YA, 13 NF-YB, and 13 NF-YC subunits) that can theoretically combine to form 1,690 unique complexes. Individual plant subunits have functions in flowering time, embryo maturation, and meristem development, but how they combine to control these processes is unknown. To assist in the process of defining unique NF-Y complexes, we have created promoter:β-glucuronidase fusion lines for all 36 Arabidopsis genes. Here, we show NF-Y expression patterns inferred from these promoter:β-glucuronidase lines for roots, light- versus dark-grown seedlings, rosettes, and flowers. Additionally, we review the phylogenetic relationships and examine protein alignments for each NF-Y subunit family. The results are discussed with a special emphasis on potential roles for NF-Y subunits in photoperiod-controlled flowering time.

² Present address: Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710.

³ Present address: University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, SC 29201.

⁴ Present address: University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.

The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: Ben F. Holt III (benholt{at}ou.edu).

^[W] The online version of this article contains Web-only data.

^[OA] Open Access articles can be viewed online without a subscription.

www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.108.130591

^* Corresponding author; e-mail benholt{at}ou.edu.

Received September 30, 2008; accepted November 12, 2008; published November 19, 2008.