AtTCTP2, an Arabidopsis thaliana homolog of Translationally Controlled Tumor Protein, enhances in vitro plant regeneration.

The Translationally Controlled Tumor Protein (TCTP) is a central regulator of cell proliferation and differentiation in animals, and probably also in plants. Arabidopsis harbors two TCTP genes, AtTCTP1 (At3g16640), which is an important mitotic regulator, and AtTCTP2 (At3g05540), which is considered a pseudogene. Nevertheless, we have obtained evidence suggesting that this gene is functional. Indeed, a T-DNA insertion mutant, SALK_045146, displays a lethal phenotype during early rosette stage. Also, both the AtTCTP2 promoter and structural gene are functional, and heterozygous plants show delayed development. AtTCTP1 cannot compensate for the loss of AtTCTP2, since the accumulation levels of the AtTCTP1 transcript are even higher in heterozygous plants than in wild-type plants. Leaf explants transformed with Agrobacterium rhizogenes harboring AtTCTP2, but not AtTCTP1, led to whole plant regeneration with a high frequency. Insertion of a sequence present in AtTCTP1 but absent in AtTCTP2 demonstrates that it suppresses the capacity for plant regeneration; also, this phenomenon is enhanced by the presence of TCTP (AtTCTP1 or 2) in the nuclei of root cells. This confirms that AtTCTP2 is not a pseudogene and suggests the involvement of certain TCTP isoforms in vegetative reproduction in some plant species.

Vascular gene expression: a hypothesis.

The phloem is the conduit through which photoassimilates are distributed from autotrophic to heterotrophic tissues and is involved in the distribution of signaling molecules that coordinate plant growth and responses to the environment. Phloem function depends on the coordinate expression of a large array of genes. We have previously identified conserved motifs in upstream regions of the Arabidopsis genes, encoding the homologs of pumpkin phloem sap mRNAs, displaying expression in vascular tissues. This tissue-specific expression in Arabidopsis is predicted by the overrepresentation of GA/CT-rich motifs in gene promoters. In this work we have searched for common motifs in upstream regions of the homologous genes from plants considered to possess a "primitive" vascular tissue (a lycophyte), as well as from others that lack a true vascular tissue (a bryophyte), and finally from chlorophytes. Both lycophyte and bryophyte display motifs similar to those found in Arabidopsis with a significantly low E-value, while the chlorophytes showed either a different conserved motif or no conserved motif at all. These results suggest that these same genes are expressed coordinately in non-vascular plants; this coordinate expression may have been one of the prerequisites for the development of conducting tissues in plants. We have also analyzed the phylogeny of conserved proteins that may be involved in phloem function and development. The presence of CmPP16, APL, FT, and YDA in chlorophytes suggests the recruitment of ancient regulatory networks for the development of the vascular tissue during evolution while OPS is a novel protein specific to vascular plants.