• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.637-645
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• 1999

Two putative regulator genes, mocR and mocS, of the moc (mannityl opine catabolism) operons in pTi15955 of the octopine-/mannityl opine-type Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain 15955, were tested for their possible roles as repressors in the moc operons. The regions upstream of macC and mocD, the first structural genes in the two divergently oriented moc operons, were transcriptionally fused into the promoterless lacZ reporter gene. Each of the lacZ-fusions was introduced into Agrobacterium strain UIA5, a Ti plasmid-cured derivative, harboring either a mocR or a mocS clone. The resulting strains were grown in media containing various sugar sources, and the $\beta$-galactosidase activities were quantitatively measured. The results suggested that MocR repressed the expression of macC and macD. The expression of the fused $\beta$-galactosidase was not induced by mannopine (MOP) or possible catabolic intermediates of the opine, e.g. santhopine (SOP), glucose, mannose, or glutamine. However, the repression was significantly relieved by the supplementation of MOP and the concomitant introduction of the agcA gene encoding MOP cyclase that catalyzes the lactonization of MOP to agropine (AGR). These results suggested that AGR, rather than MOP or the other catabolic intermediates, is the inducer for the expression of the operon. On the contrary to previous report showing that the induction levels of macC and macD were lowered by the supplementation of inorganic nitrogen in media, the expression of these genes was not affected by the level of nitrogen in our reporter system. MocS did not strongly repress the expressions of macC and mocD. It is possible that MocS may be involved in the regulation of the operons present downstream of the moc operon, which are responsible for the utilization of mannopinic acid and agropinic acid.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.559-565
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• 2008

Members of the TGA family of basic domain/leucine zipper transcription factors regulate defense genes through physical interaction with NON-EXPRESSOR OF PR1 (NPR1). Of the seven TGA family members, TGA4/octopine synthase (ocs)-element-binding factor 4 (OBF4) is the least understood. Here we present evidence for a novel function of OBF4 as a regulator of flowering. We identified CONSTANS (CO), a positive regulator of floral induction, as an OBF4-interacting protein, in a yeast two-hybrid library screen. OBF4 interacts with the B-box region of CO. The abundance of OBF4 mRNA cycles with a 24 h rhythm under both long-day (LD) and short-day (SD) conditions, with significantly higher levels during the night than during the day. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays revealed that OBF4 binds to the promoter of the FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) gene, a direct target of CO. We also found that, like CO and FT, an OBF4:GUS construct was prominently expressed in the vascular tissues of leaf, indicating that OBF4 can regulate FT expression through the formation of a protein complex with CO. Taken together, our results suggest that OBF4 may act as a link between defense responses and flowering.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.147-152
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• 1998

AL1-gene, necessary for the replication of the genome of a gemini virus TGMV, was inserted in the opposite direction to the promoter CaMV35S resulting in the construction of a plant transformation binary vector pAR35-2. The vector pAR35-2 contains the chimeric gene cassette involving the duplicated promoter CaMV35S, opposite direction of AL1-gene fusioned with hygromycin resistant gene, and the gene cassette of the neomycin phosphotransferase II gene. The plasmid was transferred to tobacco and tomato plants by leaf disk infection via Agrobacterium. The transgenic plants were selected and grown on the MS-agar medium containing kanamycin and hygromycin. The shoots induced from the calli were regenerated to the whole transgenic plants. The antisense AL1-gene was detected in the genomic DNA isolated from the leaves by using the PCR mediated Southern blot analysis. The expression of the antisense AL1-gene was also observed using the RT-PCR mediated Southern blot analysis. The observation of chloroplasts in guard cell pair indicated that the transgenic tomato plants were diploid.