Studies of the legendary lab model, Arabidopsis thaliana, helped reveal a new layer of genetic regulation in plants. Illustration by Emmanuel Boutet, CC Wikipedia
There is no shortage of complexity in animal cell biology but for sheer variety of unexpected mechanisms, plants are way out in front of the evolutionary curve. Post-transcriptional interactions between families of transcription factors have been seen in yeast and in animal models such as Drosophila but nothing like the lively back and forth between families of transcription factors (TFs) being described of late in plants. In a new review, Marian Bemer, Gerco Angenent, and colleagues at Wageningen University in the Netherlands point to the large number of such interfamily TF interactions that are emerging in studies of different plant species such as Arabidopsis thaliana through large scale studies drawing on new molecular and genetic techniques.
Looking at the biological implications, the researchers believe that interfamily TF interactions represent an additional layer of gene regulation. “Cross-family TF interactions expand the molecular toolbox for plants with additional mechanisms to control and fine-tune robust gene expression patterns and to adapt to their continuously changing environment,” they write.
About the Author:
John Fleischman was the ASCB Senior Science Writer from 2000 to 2016. Best unpaid perk of the job? Working with new grad students and Nobel Prize winners.