Abstract
The WUSCHEL-related HOMEOBOX (WOX) family of homeodomain transcription factors plays a crucial role in plant growth and development. Although genetic studies have uncovered the function of WOX genes, its molecular mechanism regulating their functions in cellular level remains elucive.
Previously, we have revealed that the WOX4 gene is expressed in procambial cells of vascular bundles and promotes their proliferation in Arabidopsis. In this study, we aimed to analyze the transcriptional regulation by WOX4. The WOX4 protein contains a transcriptional repressor domain called WUS box (TLXLFP) near its C-terminus (Leibfried et al., 2005; Ikeda et al., 2009). We generated a modified version of WOX4 gene, in which the repressor domain was removed and an activator domain was added. Using this construct, we established an Arabidopsis cell culture in which the expression of the modified WOX4 gene can be induced by estrogen. We will report the results from gene expression analysis with this line.
