Abstract
The eye (embryo yellow) mutant that has defects in the maturation stage of the embryogenesis was isolated from a screening of T-DNA tagged Arabidopsis lines. The germinated plants of the eye mutant were dwarf and formed many adventitious leaves in the shoot apex. The EYE gene was predicted to encode a protein with a putative coiled-coil region near the amino terminus. Phenotypes of the eye mutant were reversed by expression of the truncated EYE protein that includes this region. This result indicates that this region plays a critical role in a normal development of the plant body supported by the EYE protein. The predicted EYE protein was homologous to Cog7 that is a subunit of a mammalian Golgi-localized COG complex. Phenotypes of the eye mutant might be caused by defects in the function of the Golgi apparatus.
