Characterization of Arabidopsis ZIM, a member of a novel plant-specific GATA factor gene family

• Published in: Journal of experimental botany 2004-03, Vol.55 (397), p.631-639
• Main Authors: Shikata, M, Matsuda, Y, Ando, K, Nishii, A, Takemura, M, Yokota, A, Kohchi, T
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis Proteins - chemistry; Arabidopsis Proteins - genetics; Arabidopsis thaliana; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; cell elongation; Conserved Sequence; Cysteine; DNA Primers; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; GATA factor; GATA transcription factors; Gene expression regulation; Genes; Genes. Genome; Hypocotyls; Leaves; microarray; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Multigene Family; Petioles; Phenotypes; Plants; Research Papers: Cell and Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Physiology; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA; Sequence Alignment; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; transcription factor; Transcription factors; Transcription Factors - chemistry; Transcription Factors - genetics; zinc finger; Zinc Fingers - genetics
• ISSN: 0022-0957; 1460-2431; 1460-2431
• DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erh078

The Arabidopsis gene ZIM encodes a putative transcription factor containing a novel GATA-type zinc-finger domain with a longer spacer between its two sets of conserved cysteine residues (C-X2-C-X20-C-X2-C). In Arabidopsis, ZIM and homologous proteins, ZML1 and ZML2, were identified as GATA factors containing the C-X2-C-X20-C-X2-C motif, a CCT domain, and an uncharacterized conserved domain. Proteins that possess this domain structure were found exclusively in plants, indicating that they belong to a novel family of plant-specific GATA-type transcription factors. When ZIM was overexpressed using a CaMV 35S promoter in Arabidopsis, hypocotyls and petioles were elongated. The elongation phenotype was observed under all wavelengths of light tested and even in the presence of biosynthetic inhibitors of either brassinosteroid or gibberellin. In ZIM-overexpressing plants, XTH33 which is predicted to function in cell wall modification was detected as an up-regulated gene by microarray analysis, and this could account for the elongation phenotype. Genes in ZIM-overexpressing plants were identified that were up-regulated in a tissue-specific manner, which suggests that transcriptional regulation by ZIM and its consequent effects are spatially controlled.