Abstract
In Arabidopsis thaliana, 10 D-type cyclins (CYCDs) were identified. One of the major questions about these D-type cyclins is whether each cyclin has distinct functional roles or not. To elucidate the functional difference and similarity between D-type cyclins, further analysis on each cyclin is needed. In this research, therefore, we studied less characterized D-type cyclin, CYCD4;1 and CYCD4;2.
We isolated T-DNA insertion mutants of CYCD4;1 and CYCD4;2 from T-DNA tagged lines to study the role of these cyclins during plant development. CYCD4;1 mutant did not show any remarkable phenotype. On the other hand, in T-DNA homozygous mutant of CYCD4;2, leaf expansion was reduced and early leaf senescence was observed. In this mutant, it was revealed that partial CYCD4;2 mRNA that lacks the last exon was expressed. These results indicate that CYCD4;2 might work in leaf development and the C-terminal portion of CYCD4;2 might be necessary for its full function.
