Silence Blog

Regulation of ARGONAUTE1 in Arabidopsis thaliana

In an article recently published in Silence, Earley et al. describe how loss-of-function mutations in the F-box-gene FBW2 serve to increase the protein levels of ARGONAUTE1 (AGO1), a core component of the RNA-induced silencing complex in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Conversely, over-expression of the endogenous F-box protein leads to a decrease in the abundance of AGO1 protein levels, but not AGO1 mRNA. Together, these results indicate the novel role of FBW2 as a negative regulator of AGO1 protein levels, contributing yet another layer of complexity to the mechanisms involved in AGO1 homeostasis.

Although FBW2 mutants possess no obvious morphological phenotype, they do display a reduced sensitivity to the plant growth regulator abscisic acid (ABA), suggesting that FBW2 may also play a role in hormone response pathways. The authors predict that the potential involvement of FBW2 in such regulatory pathways will prove to be an interesting subject for future research.

Posted by Elizabeth Bal at 14:33    Comments (0)