D. Tremousaygue et al., Plant interstitial telomere motifs participate in the control of gene expression in root meristems, PLANT J, 20(5), 1999, pp. 553-561
The promoters of Arabidopsis eEF1A genes contain a telomere motif, the telo
-box, associated with an activating sequence, the tef-box. Database searche
s indicated the presence of telo-boxes in the 5' region of numerous genes e
ncoding components of the translational apparatus. By using several promote
r constructs we demonstrate that the telo-box is required for the expressio
n of a beta-glucoronidase gene in root primordia of transgenic Arabidopsis.
This effect was observed when a telo-box was inserted upstream or downstre
am from the transcription initiation site, and occurred in synergy with the
tef-box. These results clearly indicate that interstitial telomere motifs
in plants are involved in control of gene expression. South-western screeni
ng of a lambda ZAP library with a double-stranded Arabidopsis telomere moti
f resulted in characterization of a protein related to the conserved animal
protein Pur alpha. The possibility of a regulation process similar to that
achieved by the Rap1p in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is discussed.