Three New Transcription Factors That Regulate Stress Response in Plants

August 26, 2013

The RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Tohoku University have found three transcription factors, JAM1, JAM2, and JAM3, from the gene expression data of the model plant Arabidopsis. These transcription factors are thought to play an important role in responding to stress environments since loss of JAM genes result in enhanced stress responses.

These research results demonstrate that molecular-level studies of plant responses to stress are now possible. JAM-regulated transcription factor stress-response mechanisms are thought to be common among plants and suggest that by manipulating response levels to environment stress, injury, insect damage, or disease, plants could still allocate enough energy to growth. Furthermore, these factors are important indicators for insight on how plants acquired such a clever stress response mechanism during their evolution.

Original article

Plant Physiology doi: 10.1104/pp.113.220129

Y. Sasaki-Sekimoto2, Y. Jikumaru, T. Obayashi, H. Saito, S. Masuda, Y. Kamiya, H. Ohta, K. Shirasu,

“Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors JASMONATE-ASSOCIATED MYC2-LIKE1 (JAM1), JAM2, and JAM3 Are Negative Regulators of Jasmonate Responses in Arabidopsis”.

Contact

Ken Shirasu

Group Director

Plant Immunity Research Group