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IN BRIEF

RNA Turnover Plays a Role in Ethylene Signaling

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Recessive ethylene-insensitive mutants known as ein5/ain1 correspond to a gene whose identity has remained elusive for more than 10 years. Potuschak et al. (pages 3047–3057) confirm that EIN5 is allelic XRN4, which encodes a cytoplasmic exoribonuclease. The authors show that XRN4 is required for ethylene responses and likely acts between CTR1 and EBF1/2 in the ethylene signaling pathway. xrn4 mutants have increased levels of EBF1/2 mRNA, consistent with the function of XRN4 as an exoribonuclease involved in mRNA turnover. Ethylene insensitivity of the mutants is related to increased levels of EBF1/2 transcript, which encodes related F-box proteins involved in degradation of the EIN3 protein, a key transcriptional regulator in the ethylene response pathway that functions in the induction of primary target genes of the ethylene transcriptional cascade. Interestingly, XRN4 has been found to play a role in microRNA-directed mRNA degradation and RNA-induced gene silencing events. However, Potuschak et al. show that regulation of EBF1/2 mRNA turnover by XRN4 is independent of these processes. The identification of XRN4 as a key component in ethylene signaling adds RNA degradation as another posttranscriptional process that modulates perception of this plant hormone.

View larger version (15K): [in this window] [in a new window] [as a PowerPoint slide]   New model of the ethylene signaling cascade including XRN4/EIN5.

www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.106.181111

Related articles in Plant Cell:

The Exoribonuclease XRN4 Is a Component of the Ethylene Response Pathway in Arabidopsis

Thomas Potuschak, Amérin Vansiri, Brad M. Binder, Esther Lechner, Richard D. Vierstra, and Pascal Genschik
Plant Cell 2006 18: 3047-3057. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

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