Characterization of the starvation response in the Arabidopsis dcl1-9 mutant

The SnRK1 protein kinase, the plant ortholog of mammalian AMPK and yeast Snf1, is activated by the energy depletion caused by adverse environmental conditions. Upon activation, SnRK1 triggers extensive transcriptional changes to restore homeostasis and promote stress tolerance and survival partly through the inhibition of anabolism and the activation of catabolism. Despite the identification of a few bZIP transcription factors as downstream effectors, the mechanisms underlying gene regulation, and in particular gene repression by SnRK1, remain mostly unknown. microRNAs (miRNAs) are 20-24nt RNAs that regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally by driving the cleavage and/or translation attenuation of complementary mRNA targets. In addition to the well-established role of miRNAs as regulators of plant development, mounting evidence implicates miRNAs in the response to environmental stress. Given the involvement of miRNAs in stress responses and the fact that some of the SnRK1-regulated genes are miRNA targets, we postulated that miRNAs drive part of the transcriptional reprogramming triggered by SnRK1 activation. To test this we have performed comparative analyses of the transcriptional response to energy deprivation between WT and dcl1-9, a mutant deficient in miRNA biogenesis.

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Confraria A, Martinho C, Elias A, Rubio-Somoza I, Baena-González E