Analysis of microProteins miP1a and miP1b in the regulation of flowering time in Arabidopsis

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Stephan Wenkel
• Subject Area: Plant Cell and Developmental Biology
• Term: from 2013 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 230144755

• Final Report Year: 2016

Final Report Abstract

MicroProteins are short single-domain proteins that possess the ability to interfere with larger multi-domain proteins. These protein species can be identified in plants and animals where they evolved from large proteins by successive domain-loss. MicroProteins often act as decoys thus interaction with their targets results in reduced activity. Here we employed a bioinformatics approach and identified a number of microProteins encoded in the Arabidopsis genome. The detailed study of two uncharacterized microProteins, miP1a and miP1b, revealed that these proteins interact with their target protein CONSTANS and additionally engage in a larger protein complex involving the co-repressor protein TOPLESS. These findings imply that miP1a/b establish a flowering activity switch similar to AUX/IAA proteins in the auxin-signaling pathway.

Publications

• MicroProteins in the regulation of flowering time, Dissertation, Universität Tübingen
  Moritz Graeff
  
• MicroProteins: small size - big impact. Trends in Plant Science 20(8):477-82, 2015
  Eguen T, Straub D, Graeff M, Wenkel S