Abstract
Ubiquitin(Ub)/26S proteasome pathway plays an essential housekeeping role to eliminate the proteins which are damaged or misfolded. It is also essential for most, if not all, aspects of cellular regulation by removing rate-limiting enzymes and desmantling existing regulatory networks as a way to fine-tune homeostasis, adapt to new environments, and redirect growth and development.
We examined the isolation and characterization of the RPT2a deficient mutants in Arabidopsis, and the rpt2a mutant showed enlarged leaves, which are caused by accelerated endoreduplication. The endoreduplication is a type of cell cycle where chromosomal DNA replication occurs without cell division. In general 3-branched trichomes undergo four endoreduplication cycles resulting in a DNA content of 32C. The rpt2a showed increased numbers of trichome. We generated double mutants between rpt2a and several under-branched trichome mutants. The function of RPT2a in terms of trichome formation will be discussed.
