Dr. Annkatrin Rose

Expression Profiling of the FLIP4 Gene Family in Arabidopsis thaliana

Michael Judge, Annkatrin Rose
Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608, USA

Gene duplication events are thought to be major drivers of diversity in the angiosperms. For most duplicated genes, one of the paralogs is quickly lost to fractionation or pseudogenization. Alternatively, random mutations in one or both paralogs sometimes allow them to develop new or specialized roles. We hypothesize that a shift from redundancy to subfunctionalization is occurring in the paralogs AtFLIP4-1 and AtFLIP4-2 (Filament-like Protein 4), two uncharacterized coiled-coil proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana. Phenotypes differ for the single knock-out mutants, and FLIP4-1 is highly expressed in sperm and pollen while FLIP4-2 has been localized to the chloroplast, pointing to specialization. On the other hand, double knock-out mutants appear to be inviable, suggesting a vital role for FLIP4 in the plant and functional redundancy between the genes. To better understand the roles of each protein and any genetic interactions between them, reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is being used to quantify the expression of both genes throughout the development of the plant. Detailed expression profiles derived from wild-type plants are being used to test for subfunctionalization, while those from single knock-out mutants should reveal any redundancy or compensation in the expression of the genes. More broadly, the results of this study will provide insight into specialization fates as opposed to pseudogenization or fractionation after gene duplication events.

Poster # 250 at the 76th Annual Meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists, Chattanooga, TN, April 1-4, 2015.