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Updated: May 10, 2026

Chromatin Immunoprecipitation Assay for the Identification of Arabidopsis Protein-DNA Interactions In Vivo
Published on: January 15, 2016
Decoding Arabidopsis growth-defense trade-offs through ADR1-associated transcriptional networks
Donghui Hu1, Jinge Wang1, Rachelle R Q Lee1
1Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117558, Singapore.
Abstract:
Growth and defense are inversely correlated processes requiring balance for fitness. While each is well studied, its regulatory trade-offs are less understood. Using DANGEROUS MIX (DM) autoimmune plants with stunted growth in Arabidopsis thaliana, we investigate the balancing act. Transcriptome analysis of three DM cases and pathogen-treated seedlings identifies two major modules representing defense and growth. These core modules, comprising 4,712 genes (∼17% of the transcriptome), reveal consistent transcriptional antagonism across diverse immune datasets. Removing all three ADR1s, the helper nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeats (NLRs), reverses the expression patterns of both modules and shifts the balance; ADR1s strongly affect growth-associated receptor-like kinase (RLK) genes more than defense genes. Autoimmune plants also show reciprocal chromatin accessibility changes, dominated by a widespread decrease at growth loci relative to sporadic increases at defense loci. Our findings suggest a mechanism where immune signaling, partly mediated by ADR1s, actively suppresses growth genes, providing a strategy to regulate the growth-defense trade-off.
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Transcription
Transcription is the process of synthesizing RNA from a DNA sequence by RNA polymerase. It is the first step in producing a protein from a gene sequence. Additionally, many other proteins and regulatory sequences are involved in the proper synthesis of messenger RNA (mRNA). Regulation of transcription is responsible for the differentiation of all the different types of cells and often for the proper cellular response to environmental signals.
Transcription Can Produce Different Kinds...
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