Expression and deletion analysis of an Arabidopsis SUPERMAN-like zinc finger gene

Zinc finger proteins play an important role in growth and development in animal systems, and undoubtedly the same important role is also true for plants. In the present study we have analyzed the expression of a single zinc finger SUPERMAN-like gene, designated AtZFP11 in Arabidopsis and its ectopic expression in tobacco. The AtZFP11 gene was found to be expressed in flowers, axillary meristems, roots and stems of Arabidopsis by RT-PCR, although it was below detection level using conventional RNA blots. No expression was observed in leaves. No Arabidopsis plant over-expressing the AtZFP11 gene was recovered. Ectopic expression of the AtZFP11 gene in tobacco resulted in abnormal tobacco plants that were dwarfed, had abnormal leaf morphology, flowered early and most of the plants were sterile. A GFP fusion protein with N-terminal portions of the protein showed that the amino acids adjacent to the zinc finger domain determine the nuclear localization of the AtZFP11 protein. Deletion of the leucine rich region similar to other ERF transcriptional repression domains at the carboxyl terminus resulted in transgenic plants that were no different from wild-type. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.