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Plant Genomics Research Group

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It is important subject to analyze the mechanism of plant’s responses against environmental changes for improvement of crops to adopt environmental changes. Plants perceive light not only as an energy source by photosynthesis but also for the fundamental physiological responses such as recognition of light and darkness, the duration of day length to determine the timing of germination and flowering. Plant Functional Genomics Research Group will analyze the molecular mechanism of “Photoperception and Signal Transduction” to establish the basis for development of crops with improved productivity and environmental change adaptation.

Activation Tagging Line

Activation tagging lines have random insertion of T-DNAs containing transcriptional enhancer of Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter in their genome. By this insertion it is expected to enhance the expression of genes located proximal to the insertion sites. We also provide the information of T-DNA insertion sites as RIKEN Activation Tag line database.

Lines	55,000
Average T-DNA inserts	1.5
Antibiotics marker on T-DNA	Hygromycin
Conventional selection method	BAM plate with Hygromycin

FOX-hunting Line

FOX hunting system is a system of gene overexpression using Arabidopsis full-length cDNAs. Gain-of-function mutant lines can be obtained by expressing individual full-length cDNAs under the control of CaMV 35S promoter. Inserted full-length cDNAs can be recovered from FOX lines by PCR or other conventional methods. This feature make possible to connect the relationship between mutant phenotype and corresponding genes.

Lines	22,000
Average T-DNA inserts	1.4
Antibiotics marker on T-DNA	Hygromycin

TF(Transcription Factor) Line

We collected 1,600 among 2,000 predicted transcription factor (TF) genes in Arabidopsis(in collaboration with Drs. Masaru Ohme-Takagi and Nobutaka Mitsuda at AIST). We cloned these TFs into gateway entry vector without stop codon. We are constructing transgenic lines that express each TF as a fusion protein with Glucocorticoid receptor (GR) transcribed by CaMV 35S promoter. For one TF we made 16 independent transgenic lines and use them for the analysis of transcription targets and for their tissue specific expression.

Lines	8000 (500 TFs)
Antibiotics marker on T-DNA	Hygromycin

sORF Line

sORFs are predicted as short Open Reading Frames with less than 300 base pairs that have been overlooked from genome annotation. They are predicted with high coding possibility from the criteria of gene family and evolutional conservation. Their expression is also confirmed using custom microarrays using 5,000 predicted sORF probes. sORF lines express these sORFs under the control of CaMV 35S promoter. They can be used for the screening of functional peptides or peptide hormones.