Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA; email:
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, USA; email:
Annu Rev Plant Biol. 2023 May 22;74:111-137. doi: 10.1146/annurev-arplant-070122-030236. Epub 2023 Jan 8.
Regulatory elements encode the genomic blueprints that ensure the proper spatiotemporal patterning of gene expression necessary for appropriate development and responses to the environment. Accumulating evidence implicates changes to gene expression as a major source of phenotypic novelty in eukaryotes, including acute phenotypes such as disease and cancer in mammals. Moreover, genetic and epigenetic variation affecting regulatory sequences over longer evolutionary timescales has become a recurring theme in studies of morphological divergence and local adaptation. Here, we discuss the functions of and methods used to identify various classes of regulatory elements, as well as their role in plant development and response to the environment. We highlight opportunities to exploit regulatory variants underlying plant development and environmental responses for crop improvement efforts. Although a comprehensive understanding of regulatory mechanisms in plants has lagged behind that in animals, we showcase several breakthrough findings that have profoundly influenced plant biology and shaped the overall understanding of transcriptional regulation in eukaryotes.
调控元件编码基因组蓝图，确保基因表达的适当时空模式，这对于适当的发育和对环境的响应是必要的。越来越多的证据表明，基因表达的变化是真核生物表型新颖性的主要来源，包括哺乳动物的急性表型，如疾病和癌症。此外，在较长的进化时间尺度上影响调控序列的遗传和表观遗传变异已成为形态分化和局部适应研究中的一个反复出现的主题。在这里，我们讨论了各种类别的调控元件的功能和用于识别它们的方法，以及它们在植物发育和对环境响应中的作用。我们强调了利用植物发育和环境响应的潜在调控变异来进行作物改良的机会。尽管对植物调控机制的全面理解落后于动物，但我们展示了一些突破性的发现，这些发现深刻地影响了植物生物学，并形成了对真核生物转录调控的整体理解。
