Abstract
Cullins are central scaffolding subunits in eukaryotic E3 ligases that facilitate the ubiquitination of target proteins. Arabidopsis contains at least 11 cullin proteins but only a few of them have been assigned biological roles. In this work Arabidopsis cullin 4 is shown to assemble with DDB1, RBX1, DET1 and DDB2 in vitro and in planta. In addition, by using T-DNA insertion and CUL4 antisense lines we demonstrate that corresponding mutants are severely affected in different aspects of development. Reduced CUL4 expression leads to a reduced number of lateral roots, and to abnormal vascular tissue and stomatal development. Furthermore, cul4 mutants display a weak constitutive photomorphogenic phenotype. These results therefore assign an important function to CUL4 during plant development and provide strong evidence that CUL4 assembles together with RBX1 and DDB1 proteins to form a functional E3 ligase in Arabidopsis.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Arabidopsis / growth & development*
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Arabidopsis / metabolism*
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Arabidopsis Proteins / genetics
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Arabidopsis Proteins / metabolism*
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Carrier Proteins / metabolism
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Cullin Proteins / genetics
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Cullin Proteins / metabolism*
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DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism*
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Down-Regulation
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Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
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Gene Expression Regulation, Plant*
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Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
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Light
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Nuclear Proteins / genetics
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Nuclear Proteins / metabolism*
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Plant Leaves / growth & development
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Plant Leaves / metabolism
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Plant Roots / growth & development
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Plant Roots / metabolism
Substances
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Arabidopsis Proteins
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CULLIN4 protein, Arabidopsis
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Carrier Proteins
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Cullin Proteins
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DDB1a protein, Arabidopsis
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DDB1b protein, Arabidopsis
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DET1 protein, Arabidopsis
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DNA-Binding Proteins
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Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
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Nuclear Proteins
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RBX1 protein, Arabidopsis