National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology & Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 300 Fenglin Road, 200032, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
BMC Plant Biol. 2018 Oct 5;18(1):221. doi: 10.1186/s12870-018-1443-x.
PLATZ proteins are a novel class of plant-specific zinc-dependent DNA-binding proteins that are classified as transcription factors (TFs). However, their common biochemical features and functions are poorly understood.
Here, we identified and cloned 17 PLATZ genes in the maize (Zea mays) genome. All ZmPLATZs were located in nuclei, consistent with their predicted role as TFs. However, none of ZmPLATZs was found to have intrinsic activation properties in yeast. Our recent work shows that FL3 (ZmPLATZ12) interacts with RPC53 and TFC1, two critical factors in the RNA polymerase III (RNAPIII) transcription complex. Using the yeast two-hybrid assay, we determined that seven other PLATZs interacted with both RPC53 and TFC1, whereas three had no protein-protein interaction with these two factors. The other six PLATZs interacted with either RPC53 or TFC1. These findings indicate that ZmPLATZ proteins are generally involved in the modulation of RNAPIII-mediated small non-coding RNA transcription. We also identified all of the PLATZ members in rice (Oryza sativa) and Arabidopsis thaliana and constructed a Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree for ZmPLATZs. The resulting tree included 44 members and 5 subfamilies.
This study provides insight into understanding of the phylogenetic relationship, protein structure, expression pattern and cellular localization of PLATZs in maize. We identified nine and thirteen ZmPLATZs that have protein-protein interaction with RPC53 and TFC1 in the current study, respectively. Overall, the characterization and functional analysis of the PLATZ family in maize will pave the way to understanding RNAPIII-mediated regulation in plant development.
PLATZ 蛋白是一类新的植物特异性锌指 DNA 结合蛋白，被归类为转录因子（TFs）。然而，它们的常见生化特征和功能还知之甚少。
在这里，我们在玉米（Zea mays）基因组中鉴定和克隆了 17 个 PLATZ 基因。所有的 ZmPLATZs 都位于细胞核中，这与它们作为 TFs 的预期作用一致。然而，在酵母中没有发现 ZmPLATZs 具有内在的激活特性。我们最近的工作表明，FL3（ZmPLATZ12）与 RNA 聚合酶 III（RNAPIII）转录复合物的两个关键因子 RPC53 和 TFC1 相互作用。使用酵母双杂交测定，我们确定了另外 7 个 PLATZs 与 RPC53 和 TFC1 相互作用，而 3 个与这两个因子没有蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用。另外 6 个 PLATZs 与 RPC53 或 TFC1 相互作用。这些发现表明，ZmPLATZ 蛋白通常参与调节 RNAPIII 介导的小非编码 RNA 转录。我们还鉴定了水稻（Oryza sativa）和拟南芥（Arabidopsis thaliana）中的所有 PLATZ 成员，并构建了 ZmPLATZs 的最大似然系统发育树。生成的树包括 44 个成员和 5 个亚家族。
本研究为理解玉米中 PLATZ 蛋白的系统发育关系、蛋白质结构、表达模式和细胞定位提供了依据。在本研究中，我们分别鉴定了 9 个和 13 个与 RPC53 和 TFC1 具有蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用的 ZmPLATZs。总的来说，玉米 PLATZ 家族的特征和功能分析将为理解植物发育中 RNAPIII 介导的调节铺平道路。
