Plant & Animal Genomes XV Conference

January 13-17, 2007
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA

Functional Analysis Of Mob1-Like Genes Using Arabidopsis T-DNA Tagged And RNA-Interfered Mutants

Gianni Barcaccia¹ , Emidio Albertini² , Mario Pezzotti³ , Lucia Colombo⁴

¹  Environmental Agronomy and Crop Science Department, University of Padova, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy

²  Plant Biology and Agroenvironmental and Animal Biotechnology Department, University of Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno 64, 06121 Perugia, Italy

³  Scientific and Technological Department, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 15, 37134 Verona, Italy

⁴  Biology Department, University of Milano - Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy

We have recently cloned two Mob1-like genes from alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and demonstrated that their proteins are involved in cell proliferation and are localized in the cell division midplane during cytokinesis. In addition, Mob1-like genes proved to play a key role during the reproductive pathway in plants: localization of their transcripts and proteins was associated to meiotic division abnormalities and programmed cell death within reproductive organs. The involvement of Mob1 genes in cell cycle control and programmed cell death is also supported by recent data collected in Drosophila melanogaster. The aim of this work is to elucidate the role of Mob1-like genes and to gain further insights on their function in plants. Our hypothesis is that Mob1 proteins alone or with protein kinases are involved in cell cycle control, but they seem also associated to programmed cell death into reproductive organs when combined with apoptotic regulators (e.g. NB-ARC). Functional analysis of Mob1-like genes of Arabidopsis thaliana (loci At5g45550 and At4g19050) was attempted by using T-DNA tagged and RNA-interfered Mob1 mutants. Results on segregation and expression patterns of AtMob1-like genes are reported and their potential function in plant reproduction discussed.