Journal
PLANT CELL
Volume 25, Issue 9, Pages 3175-3185Publisher
AMER SOC PLANT BIOLOGISTS
DOI: 10.1105/tpc.113.115121
Keywords
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Funding
- National Science Foundation [NSF IOS-0723493, NSF IOS-1121602]
- National Institutes of Health [U54-DA-021519]
- Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems
- Direct For Biological Sciences [0723493] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1121602] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Traditional genetic analysis relies on mutants with observable phenotypes. Mutants lacking visible abnormalities may nevertheless exhibit molecular differences useful for defining gene function. To examine this, we analyzed tissue-specific transcript profiles from Arabidopsis thaliana transcription factor gene mutants with known roles in root epidermis development, but lacking a single-gene mutant phenotype due to genetic redundancy. We discovered substantial transcriptional changes in each mutant, preferentially affecting root epidermal genes in a manner consistent with the known double mutant effects. Furthermore, comparing transcript profiles of single and double mutants, we observed remarkable variation in the sensitivity of target genes to the loss of one or both paralogous genes, including preferential effects on specific branches of the epidermal gene network, likely reflecting the pathways of paralog subfunctionalization during evolution. In addition, we analyzed the root epidermal transcriptome of the transparent testa glabra2 mutant to clarify its role in the network. These findings provide insight into the molecular basis of genetic redundancy and duplicate gene diversification at the level of a specific gene regulatory network, and they demonstrate the usefulness of tissue-specific transcript profiling to define gene function in mutants lacking informative visible changes in phenotype.
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