Abstract
A soluble ABC protein gene, GCN20-3, was isolated by gene trap mutagenesis in Arabidopsis. The gene was expressed in root tips, and involved in root development. An Arabidopsis GCN1 gene whose product was interacted with the ABC protein was also expressed in root tips, and shoot meristems, flowers. Two genes are orthologs of yeast GCN20, GCN1 genes that function in amino acid starvation conditions. In yeast, other GCN2, eIF2α genes were concerned with this system. To gain more insight into this system in plants, promoter regions of the Arabidopsis GCN2 gene or eIF2α gene were fused to a GUS gene, and then the genes were introduced into Arabidopsis plants. The GCN2 gene and one of the eIF2α gene (AteIF2α_II) were expressed in root tips, shoot meristems, and flowers similar to the GCN1 gene expression. These results suggested that plant GCN proteins play important role in development.
