State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou 311300, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Apr 15;21(8):2733. doi: 10.3390/ijms21082733.
Developmental transitions in plants are tightly associated with changes in the transcriptional regulation of gene expression. One of the most important regulations is conferred by cofactors of RNA polymerase II including the mediator complex, a large complex with a modular organization. The mediator complex recruits transcription factors to bind to the specific sites of genes including protein-coding genes and non-coding RNA genes to promote or repress the transcription initiation and elongation using a protein-protein interaction module. Mediator complex subunits have been isolated and identified in plants and the function of most mediator subunits in whole life cycle plants have been revealed. Studies have shown that the Mediator complex is indispensable for the regulation of plant developmental transitions by recruiting age-, flowering-, or hormone-related transcription factors. Here, we first overviewed the Mediator subunits in plants, and then we summarized the specific Mediator subunits involved in developmental transitions, including vegetative phase change and floral transition. Finally, we proposed the future directions to further explore their roles in plants. The link between Mediator subunits and developmental transitions implies the necessity to explore targets of this complex as a potential application in developing high quality crop varieties.
植物的发育转变与基因表达的转录调控变化密切相关。其中最重要的调控之一是由 RNA 聚合酶 II 的辅助因子赋予的，包括中介复合物，这是一个具有模块化组织的大型复合物。中介复合物招募转录因子与基因的特定位点结合，包括蛋白质编码基因和非编码 RNA 基因，利用蛋白-蛋白相互作用模块促进或抑制转录起始和延伸。在植物中已经分离和鉴定了中介复合物亚基，并且揭示了大多数中介亚基在整个生命周期植物中的功能。研究表明，中介复合物通过招募与年龄、开花或激素相关的转录因子，对于植物发育转变的调控是不可或缺的。在这里，我们首先概述了植物中的中介亚基，然后总结了参与发育转变的特定中介亚基，包括营养阶段转变和花发育转变。最后，我们提出了进一步探索它们在植物中的作用的未来方向。中介亚基与发育转变之间的联系意味着有必要探索这个复合物的靶标，作为开发高质量作物品种的潜在应用。
