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Cell Research (2004); 14(1):8-15

Arabidopsis RAV1 is down-regulated by brassinosteroid and may act as a negative regulator during plant development

Yu Xin HU^*, Yong Hong WANG^*, Xin Fang LIU, Jia Yang LI

Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.

^*These authors contributed equally to this work.
Received, Sep 8, 2003; Revised, Oct 30, 2003; Accepted, Nov 6, 2003.

Correspondence: Jia Yang LI 0086-10-64852855(Phn) 0086-10-64873428(Fax) jyli@genetics.ac.cn

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RAV1 is a novel DNA-binding protein with two distinct DNA-binding domains unique in higher plants, but its role in plant growth and development remains unknown. Using cDNA array, we found that transcription of RAV1 is down-regulated by epibrassinolide (epiBL) in Arabidopsis suspension cells. RNA gel blot analysis revealed that epiBL-regulated RAV1 transcription involves neither protein phosphorylation/dephosphorylation nor newly synthesized protein, and does not require the functional BRI1, suggesting that this regulation might be through a new BR signaling pathway. Overexpressing RAV1 in Arabidopsis results in a retardation of lateral root and rosette leaf development, and the underexpression causes an earlier flowering phenotype, implying that RAV1 may function as a negative regulatory component of growth and development.

Keywords: RAV1, Brassinosteroid, signal transduction, Arabidopsis thaliana.