Monday, May 2, 2011
Grand Ballroom C-D, 2nd fl (Sheraton Seattle)
Recent studies have revealed several classes of NAC transcriptional factors crucial for regulating the secondary cell wall biosynthesis. Despite the progresses, most of the current analysis is carried out in model plant Arabidopsis. Moreover, many downstream genes regulated by these transcriptional factors are still not clear. In order to identify the key homolog genes across the species and discover the network controlling cell wall biosynthesis, we carried out the comparative genome analysis of NST, VND and SND genes across 19 higher plant species and computational modeling of genes regulated or co-regulated with these transcriptional factors. The comparative genome analysis revealed that NAC gene family first appeared in Selaginella moellendorffii. In fact, among the three groups, only VND genes appeared in S. moellendorffii, which is earlier than the other two groups. The gene expression analysis revealed several of these transcriptional factors co-regulate with one another. More importantly, comprehensive co-regulatory network analysis revealed that some NAC genes and MYB genes are co-regulating together. The co-regulatory network indicated the coordinative function of these transcriptional factors in modulating the cell wall biosynthesis and revealed many novel genes and pathways that could be involved in cell wall biosynthesis and its regulation. The gene ontology analysis indicated that processes like carbonhydrate synthesis and transport are coordinatively regulated toward cell wall biosynthesis. Overall, the comparative genome analysis and the network modeling represented a powerful approach for discovering novel genes involved in cell wall biosynthesis and for dissecting the regulatory mechanisms for cell wall biosynthesis.
*Correspondence: zhensu@cau.edu.cn