Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 3, 2025

Measuring Gene Expression in Bombarded Barley Aleurone Layers with Increased Throughput
Published on: March 30, 2018
The Arabidopsis thaliana mRNA decay factor PAT1 functions in osmotic stress responses and decaps ABA-responsive genes
Zhangli Zuo1, Milena Edna Roux1,2, Holger Páll Saemundsson1
1Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Abstract:
mRNA decapping plays essential roles in regulating gene expression during cellular reprogramming in response to developmental and environmental cues. The evolutionarily conserved PAT1 proteins activate decapping by binding mRNA, recruiting other decapping components, and promoting processing body (PB) assembly. Arabidopsis encodes 3 PAT proteins: PAT1, PATH1, and PATH2. Here, we report that only pat1 mutants exhibit hypersensitivity to ABA and that transcripts of ABA-responsive genes, but not those of ABA biosynthesis genes, persist longer in these mutants. The pat1 mutants also exhibit increased resistance to drought stress and resistance to Pythium irregulare. This is supported by assays showing that PAT1 functions specifically in decapping of the canonical ABA-responsive gene COR15A. In summary, PAT1 protein mediates decay of ABA-responsive genes and, thus, regulates stress responses.
Related Concept Videos
Riboswitches
The aptamer has high specificity for a particular metabolite which allows riboswitches to specifically regulate...
mRNA Stability and Gene Expression
Cis-acting Elements involved in mRNA stability
mRNA Stability and Gene Expression
Nuclear Export of mRNA
Nonsense-mediated mRNA Decay
Nonsense-mediated mRNA Decay
Usually, Upf3 binds to an Exon Junction Complex (EJC) at mRNA splice sites. If a ribosome fully translates the mRNA,...

