Regulating expression of cell and tissue-specific genes by modifying transcription

Transcriptional regulation is the primary step to control gene expression, therefore function. Such regulation is achieved primarily via a combination of the activities of the promoter cis regulatory DNA elements and trans regulatory proteins that function through binding to these DNA elements. Rice bZIP transcription factors RF2a, RF2b and RLP1 play key roles in regulating the activity of a vascular tissue specific promoter isolated from Rice Tungro Bacilliform Virus (RTBV), through their interactions with the Box II essential cis element located in the promoter (Dai et al., 2006., Dai et al., 2004., Yin et al., 1997). RF2a, RF2b and RLP1 possess multiple regulatory domains. Functional characterization reveals that those domains can activate or repress the activity of the RTBV promoter. It is equally as important to recognize that these proteins control plant development by regulating differentiation and/or function of the vascular tissues. Studies of transcriptional regulation of the RTBV promoter by this group of bZIP proteins will not only provide insights about gene expression in the vascular tissue, but also insights about general mechanisms of transcription activation and repression. The knowledge gained from this research will also enable us to develop a well-described set of tools that can be usedmore » to control expression of multiple genes in transgenic plants. We have proposed characterize the function domains of RF2a, RF2b and RLP1 and explore the biological function of the transcription repressor RLP1.« less