RESUMO
To produce seeds, flowering plants need to specify somatic cells to undergo meiosis. Here, we reveal a regulatory cascade that controls the entry into meiosis starting with a group of redundantly acting cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors of the KIP-RELATED PROTEIN (KRP) class. KRPs function by restricting CDKA;1-dependent inactivation of the Arabidopsis Retinoblastoma homolog RBR1. In rbr1 and krp triple mutants, designated meiocytes undergo several mitotic divisions, resulting in the formation of supernumerary meiocytes that give rise to multiple reproductive units per future seed. One function of RBR1 is the direct repression of the stem cell factor WUSCHEL (WUS), which ectopically accumulates in meiocytes of triple krp and rbr1 mutants. Depleting WUS in rbr1 mutants restored the formation of only a single meiocyte.
Assuntos
Proteínas de Arabidopsis/metabolismo , Arabidopsis/embriologia , Proteínas de Homeodomínio/metabolismo , Óvulo Vegetal/embriologia , Arabidopsis/genética , Proteínas de Arabidopsis/genética , Proteínas de Transporte/genética , Proteínas de Transporte/metabolismo , Proteínas de Ciclo Celular , Proteínas Inibidoras de Quinase Dependente de Ciclina/genética , Proteínas Inibidoras de Quinase Dependente de Ciclina/metabolismo , Proteínas de Homeodomínio/genética , Meiose/genética , Meiose/fisiologia , Mutação , Óvulo Vegetal/genética , Óvulo Vegetal/metabolismoRESUMO
Upon DNA damage, cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are typically inhibited to block cell division. In many organisms, however, it has been found that CDK activity is required for DNA repair, especially for homology-dependent repair (HR), resulting in the conundrum how mitotic arrest and repair can be reconciled. Here, we show that Arabidopsis thaliana solves this dilemma by a division of labor strategy. We identify the plant-specific B1-type CDKs (CDKB1s) and the class of B1-type cyclins (CYCB1s) as major regulators of HR in plants. We find that RADIATION SENSITIVE 51 (RAD51), a core mediator of HR, is a substrate of CDKB1-CYCB1 complexes. Conversely, mutants in CDKB1 and CYCB1 fail to recruit RAD51 to damaged DNA CYCB1;1 is specifically activated after DNA damage and we show that this activation is directly controlled by SUPPRESSOR OF GAMMA RESPONSE 1 (SOG1), a transcription factor that acts similarly to p53 in animals. Thus, while the major mitotic cell-cycle activity is blocked after DNA damage, CDKB1-CYCB1 complexes are specifically activated to mediate HR.
