Apoptosis has been regarded as a therapeutic target because apoptosis is typically disturbed in human cancer. Silymarin found in the seeds of the milk thistle (Silybum marianum) has been reported to exert anti-cancer properties through apoptosis. This study was performed to investigate the molecular target for silymarin-mediated apoptosis in human colorectal cancer cells. Silymarin reduced the cell viability and induced an apoptosis in human colorectal cancer cells. ATF3 overexpression increased PARP cleavage by silymarin. Increased ATF3 expression in both protein and mRNA was observed in silymarin-treated cells. In addition, silymarin increased the luciferase activity of ATF3 promoter. Inhibition of JNK and IκK-α blocked silymarin-mediated ATF3 expression. The results suggest that silymarin induces apoptosis through JNK and IκKα-dependent ATF3 expression in human colorectal cancer cells.

스테로이드 호르몬의 하나인 여성호르몬 에스트로젠은 난소에서 생성되어 혈관을 통해 표적 세포에 도달하여 단순확산에 의해 표적세포 내로 들어가, 표적세포의 핵 내에 존재하는 전사인자인 에스트로젠 수용체를 통하여 표적 유전자의 전사 활성도에 영향을 미침으로써 그 기능을 나타낸다. 1960년대 후반에 에스트로젠 수용체 알파가 분리되고, 1996년에 스웨덴의 Gustafsson 그룹에 의해 에스트로젠 수용체 베타가 발견되면서 연구에 많은 진척을 가져왔다. 에스트로젠 수용체 연구분야에 에스트로젠에 대한 연구는 생식기능 이외에도 심혈관 질환, 뇌질환, 골다공증 등과 같은 만성 퇴행성 질환 및 유아 청소년의 발달과도 연관이 되어 있어 스테로이드 호르몬 수용체 중에서도 연구가 가장 활발하게 이루어지고 있는 분야 중 하나이다. 분자적 수준에서의 에스트로젠 수용체의 작용기전의 이해는 에스트로젠에 의한 많은 질병의 예방과 치료에 큰 역할을 하고 있으며, 사회적으로 문제가 되고 있는 환경 호르몬에 의한 건강 관리 문제에도 사회적으로 큰 기여를 하고 있다. 에스트로젠 수용체 전사 조절 기전과 에스트로젠과 구조가 유사한 환경 호르몬의 작용 기전에 대한 이해를 바탕으로 환경 호르몬의 스크리닝 기법과 국소적인 여성호르몬 합성을 통한 내분비 교란 등을 통하여 환경호르몬이 유방암, 전립선암, 조기폐경, 성조숙증에 미치는 최근 연구 결과를 발표하고자 한다.

Seed germination is a key developmental transition that initiates the plant life cycle. The timing of germination is determined by coordinated action of two phytohormones, gibberellin (GA) and abscisic acid (ABA). In particular, ABA plays a key role in integrating environmental information and inhibiting the germination process. Utilization of embryonic lipid reserves contributes to seed germination by acting as an energy source, and ABA suppresses lipid degradation to modulate the germination process. Here, we report that the ABA-responsive R2R3-type MYB transcription factor MYB96, which is highly expressed in embryo, regulates seed germination by controlling the expression of ABA-INSENSITIVE 4 (ABI4). In the presence of ABA, germination was accelerated in MYB96-deficient myb96-1 seeds, whereas the process was significantly delayed in MYB96-overexpressing activation-tagging myb96-ox seeds. Consistently, myb96-1 seeds degraded a larger extent of lipid reserves even in the presence of ABA, while reduced lipid mobilization was observed in myb96-ox seeds. MYB96 directly regulates ABI4, which acts as a repressor of lipid breakdown, to define its spatial and temporal expression. Genetic analysis further demonstrated that ABI4 is epistatic to MYB96 in the control of seed germination. Taken together, the MYB96-ABI4 module regulates lipid mobilization specifically in the embryo to ensure proper seed germination under suboptimal conditions.

Nitrogen in rice paddy soils and utilized as the major source for N-assimilation in rice crops. In roots, transcriptional activities of ammonium uptake and assimilation genes are highly sensitive to the availability of exogenous ammonium. However, little is known about the transcription factor genes that regulated by ammonium supply and its role to roots and plant developments. To study the transcription factor genes that involved in Ammonium response, two weeks old rice seedlings treated using Ammonium from 0 to 3 hours. Total RNA collected from each sample and samples were prepared for Agilent 8x60K microarray system. Based on the microarray data, we select transcription factor genes that highly affected by ammonium and selected knock out mutant candidates that used for phenotype screening.

A pepper bZIP transcription factor gene, CabZIP2, was isolated from pepper leaves infected with an a virulent strain of Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria (Xcv). Transient expression analysis of the CabZIP2-GFP fusion protein in Nicotiana benthamiana revealed that the CabZIP2 protein is localized in the cytoplasm as well as the nucleus. The acidic domain in the N-terminal region of CabZIP2 that is fused to the GAL4 DNA-binding domain is required to activate the transcription of reporter genes in yeast. Transcription of CabZIP2 is induced in pepper plants inoculated with virulent or avirulent strains of Xcv. The CabZIP2 gene is also induced by defense-related hormones such as salicylic acid, methyl jasmonate, and ethylene. To elucidate the in vivo function of the CabZIP2 gene in plant defense, virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) in pepper and overexpression in Arabidopsis were used. CabZIP2-silenced pepper plants were susceptible to infection by the virulent strain of Xcv, which was accompanied by reduced expression of defense-related genes such as CaBPR1 and CaAMP1. CabZIP2 overexpression (OX) in transgenic Arabidopsis plants conferred enhanced resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. Together, these results suggest that CabZIP2 is involved in bacterial disease resistance.

The control of flowering, transition from vegetative to reproductive stage, is crucial for significant success during plant development. Multiple environmental and developmental signals are transmitted to the shoot apical meristem and converted to local cue to process developmental phage. These crucial process are delicately controlled and regulated by expression of tissue specifically expressed genes involved in inflorescence development. Therefore, it is necessary that molecular mechanism associated with inflorescence development is revealed to understand control of flowering by genome-wide expression pattern of inflorescence specific genes. In this study we used Affymetrix GeneChip Wheat Genome Array for genome-wide analysis of the expressed genes of inflorescence development including apical meristem and developing spikelet to understand the mechanism of floral development in early stage of wheat inflorescence. Moreover, meta-analysis of 1479 microarray dataset of GPL 3802 provided by Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) was conducted to determine expression pattern of each probe throughout whole life cycle. Based on meta-analysis, we demonstrate inflorescence specific expressed genes in wheat inflorescence including apical meristem, spikelet meristem to understand the mechanism of floral development of wheat inflorescence.

Anthocyanins, providing the bright red-orange to blue-violet colors, flavonoid-derived pigments with strong antioxidant activity that have benefits for human health. We isolated RsMYB1, which encodes an R2R3 MYB transcription factor (TF), from red radish plants (Raphanus sativus L.) that accumulate high levels of anthocyanins. RsMYB1 shows higher expression in red radish than in common white radish, in both leaves and roots, at different growth stages. regulatory genes. Transient expression of RsMYB1 in tobacco showed that RsMYB1 is a positive regulator of anthocyanin production. Also, the synergistic effect of RsMYB1 with B-Peru was larger than the effect of Arabidopsis plants stably expressing RsMYB1 produced red pigmentation throughout the plant, accompanied by up-regulation of the six structural and two regulatory genes for anthocyanin production. This broad transcriptional activation of anthocyanin biosynthetic machinery in Arabidopsis included up-regulation of TRANSPARENT TESTA 8, which encodes a bHLH-type TF. These results suggest that overexpression of RsMYB1 promotes anthocyanin production by triggering the expression of endogenous bHLH genes as potential binding partners for RsMYB1. In addition, RsMYB1-overexpressing Arabidopsis plants had a higher antioxidant capacity than did non-transgenic control plants. Taken together, RsMYB1 is an actively positive regulator for anthocyanins biosynthesis in radish plants and it might be one of the best targets for anthocyanin production by single gene manipulation being applicable in diverse plant species.

R2R3 MYB transcription factors play regulatory roles in plant responses to various environmental stresses and nutrient deficiency. In this study, we isolated MYB-like gene respond to phosphorus deprivation in rice and designated OsMYB4P, an R2R3 MYB transcription factor, from rice under low-phosphate conditions. OsMYB4P is 993bp long and encodes a 330 amino acid polypeptide. OsMYB4P was localized in the nucleus and acted as a transcriptional activator. Transcriptional levels of OsMYB4P in cell suspension, shoots, and roots of rice increased under low phosphate conditions. Shoots and roots of OsMYB4P overexpressing plants grew well in high and low phosphate conditions. In addition, root system architecture was altered considerably as a result of OsMYB4P overexpression. Under both phosphate sufficient and deficient conditions, more Pi accumulated in shoots and roots of OsMYB4P overexpressing plants than in the wild type. Overexpression of OsMYB4P led to greater expression of Pi transporter-family proteins OsPT1, OsPT2, OsPT4, OsPT7, and OsPT8 in shoots, and to decreased or unchanged expression of these proteins in roots, with the exception of OsPT8. These results demonstrate that OsMYB4P may be associated with efficient utilization of Pi in rice.

Rice gene functional annotation is greatly hindered due to functional redundancy. Based on OGRO database information, function of only 1022 genes were characterized previously where estimated expressed genes is approximately 50000. TFs protein class consist of 80 families and function of only 211 were reported. To address this issue, we developed web resource using MySQL, PHP and related frame work. Database integrates expression pattern and diverse data in phylogenomic contest. Since TFs plays diverse role in plants, meta-expression analysis would provide putative function of remaining genes. Using this approach and in-house database, we have identified featured expression groups: 228 belongs to anatomy, 224 to abiotic stress, 202 to biotic stress and hormone responsive group includes 267 genes. Out of 315 known genes through loss of functional studies, 294 genes have no closely related family members. Among 12 pairs with probes in database, 6 genes have PCC value with more than 0.5 among closely related genes. These data suggest that TFs showing more than 0.5 PCC value among closely relating family members more likely have functional dominancy. This study will provide useful functional information for whole rice TFs and suggest promising functional genomic studies.

Rice, as a model system of monocotyledon plants for genomic studies, is a main staple food for over half of the world population. A rice retrotransposon, Tos17, is active during tissue culture and its ability was wildly used in insertional mutagenesis. In this study we have produced 2,000 non-GM mutants induced by Tos17 in rice. We analyzed >2,000 flanking sequences of newly transposed Tos17 copies by the adaptor-ligation PCR method. The frequencies of Tos17 insertions in the genic and intergenic regions were 60.3% and 36.6%, respectively. We also selected four Tos17 insertion mutant lines for three TF genes which can be considered to be considered to be involved in rice seed development based on expression microarray data: osrem3, osta1, osbhlh1-1, and osbhlh1-2 mutant lines. According to Quadruple 9-mer-based protein binding microarray (Q9-UPBM) experiment, we found that the OsREM3, OsTA1, and OsbHLH1 bound to the ACACCAC, CACGTG, and GTAACA motifs, respectively. In combination of Q9-UPBM, RiceArrayNet analysis, and expression microarray data, we identified 8, 20, and 9 putative target genes of OsREM3, OsTA1, and OsbHLH1, respectively. We have been screening and characterizing the mutations by extensive phenotypic analysis as well as the functional analysis of genes.

The flower buds of Sophora japonica L (SF), as a well-known traditional Chinese medicinal herb, have been used to treat bleeding-related disorders such as hematochezia, hemorrhoidal bleeding, dysfunctional uterine bleeding, and diarrhea. However, no specific anti-cancer effect and its molecular mechanism of SF have been described. Thus, we performed in vitro study to investigate if treatment of SF affects activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) expression and ATF3-mediated apoptosis in human colorectal cancer cells. The effects of SF on cell viability and apoptosis were measured by MTT assay and Western blot analysis against cleaved poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). ATF3 activation induced by SF was evaluated using Western blot analysis, RT-PCR and ATF3 promoter assay. SF treatment caused decrease of cell viability and increase of apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner in HCT116 and SW480 cells. Exposure of SF activated the levels of ATF3 protein and mRNA via transcriptional regulation in HCT116 and SW480 cells. Inhibition of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) 1/2 by PD98059 and p38 by SB203580 attenuated SF-induced ATF3 expression and transcriptional activation. Ectopic ATF3 overexpression accelerated SF-induced cleavage of PARP. These findings suggest that SF-mediated apoptosis may be the result of ATF3 expression through ERK1/2 and p38-mediated transcriptional activation.

Transcription factors are essential for the regulation of gene expression in plant. They are binding to either enhancer or promoter region of DNA adjacent to the gene and are related to basal transcription regulation, differential enhancement of transcription, development, response to intercellular signals or environment, and cell cycle control. The mechanism in controlling gene expression of transcription can be understood through the assessment of the complete sequence for the maize genome. It is possible that the maize genome encodes 4,000 or more transcription factors because it has undergone whole duplication in the past. Previously, several transcription factors of maize have been characterized. In this review article, the transcription factors were selected using Pfam database, including many family members in comparison with other family and listed as follows: ABI3 / VP1, AP2/EREBP, ARF, ARID, AS2, Aux/IAA, BES1, bHLH, bZIP, C2C2-CO-like, C2C2-Dof, C2C2-GATA, C2C2- YABBY, C2H2, E2F/DP, FHA, GARP-ARR-B, GeBP, GRAS, HMG, HSF, MADS, MYB, MYB-related, NAC, PHD, and WRKY family. For analyzing motifs, each amino acid sequence has been aligned with ClustalW and the conserved sequence was shown by sequence logo. This review article will contribute to further study of molecular biological analysis and breeding using the transcription factor of maize as a strategy for selecting target gene.

Plant bZIP transcription factors play crucial roles in biological processes. In this study, 136 putative bZIP transcription members were identified in Brassica rapa. The bZIP family can be divided into nine groups according to the specific amino acid rich domain in Brassica rapa. To screen the cold stress responsive BrbZIP genes, we evaluated whether the transcription patterns of the BrbZIP genes were enhanced by cold treatment in the inbred lines, Chiifu and Kenshin, by microarray data analysis and qRT-PCR. The expression level of six genes increased significantly in Kenshin, but these genes were unchanged in Chiffu. Additionally, homo- and hetero-dimerization test between selected bZIP proteins indicated the Bra020735 is a key regulator in cold response. These findings suggest that the six genes that encoded proteins containing N-rich regions might be involved in cold stress response. These results presented herein provide valuable information regarding the molecular basis of the bZIP transcription factors and their potential function in regulation growth and development, particularly in cold stress response.

The Alfin-like transcription factor family is one of the important gene families in eukaryotic plants. They are involved in many biological processes, such as lignocellulosic wall biosynthesis, meristem development, metabolite transport, and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. But the regulatory mechanism of these genes involved in stresses responses is still unrevealed. In this study, we identified a total of 16 Alfin-like genes from Brassica rapa database. The 16 putative Alfin-like proteins were divided into four groups (group I-IV) based on structural and phylogenetic analyses. Accordingly, this study analyzed stress resistance-related functions of all B. rapa Alfin-like (BrAL) genes through a homology study with existing biotic and abiotic stress resistance-related Alfin-like genes of other plant species and found a high degree of similarity with them. Subsequently, these genes were further investigated by real-time quantative PCR under cold, salt and drought stresses and after infection with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. conglutinans in B. rapa. These genes showed an organ specific expression and all genes differentially expressed in Chiifu compared to Kenshin under cold stress. Ten and seven BrALs responded highly in Kenshin compared to Chiifu under salt and drought stresses respectively. In addition, six BrAL genes showed responsive expression after Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. conglutinans infection in B. rapa. Interestingly, four BrAL genes showed responses against both biotic and abiotic stress factors. Thus, our result provides a useful reference data set as the basis for functional analysis and utilization in the resistance molecular breeding of B. rapa.

sequence and more than fifty thousand proteins have been obtained to date. Transcription factors (TFs) are important regulators involved in plant development and physiological processes and the AP2/ERF protein family contains TFs that also plays a crucial role as well and response to biotic and abiotic stress conditions in plants. However, no detailed expression profile of AP2/ERF-like genes is available for B. oleracea. In the present study, 226 AP2/ERF TFs were identified from B. oleracea based on the available genome sequence. Based on sequence similarity, the AP2/ERF superfamily was classified into five groups (DREB, ERF, AP2, RAV and Soloist) and 15 subgroups. The identification, classification, phylogenetic construction, conserved motifs, chromosome distribution, functional annotation, expression patterns and interaction network were then predicted and analyzed. AP2/ERF TFs expression levels exhibited differences in response to varying abiotic stresses based on expressed sequence tags (ESTs). BoCBF1a, 1b, 2, 3 and 4, which were highly conserved in Arabidopsis and B. rapa CBF/DREB genes families were well characterized. Expression analysis enabled elucidation of the molecular and genetic level expression patterns of cold tolerance (CT) and susceptible lines (CS) of cabbage and indicated that all BoCBF genes responded to abiotic stresses. Comprehensive analysis of the physiological functions and biological roles of AP2/ERF superfamily genes and BoCBF family genes in B. oleracea is required to elucidate AP2/ERF, which will provide rich resources and opportunities to understand abiotic stress tolerance in crops.

Heat shock transcription factors(HSFs) are the major heat shock factors regulating the heat stress response. They participate in regulating the expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs), which are critical in the protection against stress damage and many other important biological processes. In this study, a genome-wide analysis was carried out to identify all HSFs soybean genes. Twenty six nonredundant HSF genes(GmHsf) were identified in the latest soybean genome sequence. Chromosomal location, protein domain and motif organization of GmHsfs were analyzed in soybean genome. The phylogenetic relationships, gene duplications and expression profiles of GmHsf genes were also presented in this study. According to their structural features, the predicted members were divided into the previously defined classes A–C, as described in Arabidopsis. Using RT-PCR, the expression patterns of 26 GmHsf genes were investigated under heat stress. The data revealed that these genes presented different expression levels in response to heat stress conditions. Real-time (q)RT-PCR was performed to investigate transcript levels of five GmHsfs in response to multiple abiotic stresses. Differential expression of five GmHsfs implies their role during abiotic stresses. Subcellular localization using GFP-fusion protein demonstrated that GmHsf12 and GmHsf34 were restricted to the nucleus and GmHsf28 was localized in the nucleus and cytoplasm in plant. The results provide a fundamental clue for understanding of the complexity of the soybean HSF gene family and cloning specific function genes in further studies and applications.

The plant-specific NAC (NAM, ATAF, and CUC)-domain proteins play important roles in plant development and stress responses. Comparative time-course expression analyses were carried out to analyze the expression levels of 62 soybean NAC genes during drought stress in order to search for the stress-inducible NAC genes. Ten GmSNAC (Glycine max stress-inducible NAC) genes having the significant differential expression in response to the drought stress and abscisic acid (ABA) hormone application were further investigated for their expression profiles with various stresses such as drought, high salinity, cold and with ABA treatments by the quantitative real-time PCR analyses. In this research, the full-length cDNAs of eight GmSNAC were isolated for the further studies. Eight GmSNAC proteins were tested for their transcription activation in the yeast assay system. Two GmSNAC proteins showed the very high transcriptional activities and the other two GmSNAC proteins displayed moderate levels of transactivation while the remaining four GmSNAC proteins lacked transactivation in yeast. Subcellular localization of eight GmSNAC proteins was analyzed via the green fluorescent protein-GmSNAC fusion protein in tobacco plant cell. Three GmSNAC proteins with the C-terminal transmembrane domain were localized to the nucleus and cytoplasmic fractions. The other five GmSNAC proteins were targeted to the nucleus. The function of GmSNAC49 gene was further investigated using the overexpression transgenic Arabidopsis. Germination rate in transgenic plants over-expressing GmSNAC49 was delayed in the media supplemented with mannitol or ABA compared with that of wild-type (WT) plants. The 35S:GmSNAC49 transgenic Arabidopsis displayed improved tolerance to drought stress compared to the WT. The results of this systematic analysis of the GmSNAC family responsive to abiotic stress will provide novel tools and resources for the development of improved drought tolerant transgenic soybean cultivars

Onion is one of the most widely consumed vegetables. There are many cultivars, which are grouped according to skin color as yellow, white or red. Onions can also be classified as sweet or non-sweet. Their importance in cooking comes from their typical taste and flavour. The sugars, pyruvic acid accumulation and transcript level of some transcription factors involved in the biosynthesis of high sugars and pyruvic acid was analyzed at different stages of bulb onion (Allium cepa) growing under light and dark condition using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Quantitative real time PCR. A genetic map and cultivar lines 36101and 36122 were used to identify transcription factors controlling pungency and sugar. We compared 2 different lines for low pungency and high sugars during water and photoperiod stress, which showed significant positive phenotypic and genetic correlations. These results could be presumably used as useful information to obtain onion varieties rich in sugars.