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Vesicle traffic between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus in mammals requires the small GTP-binding protein Rab2, but Saccharomyces cerevisiae appears not to have a Rab2 homolog. Here it is shown that the higher plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, contains a gene, At-RAB2, whose predicted product shares 79% identity with human Rab2 protein. Transgenic plants containing fusions between beta-glucuronidase and sequences upstream of At-RAB2 demonstrated histochemical staining predominantly in maturing pollen and rapidly growing organs of germinating seedlings. beta-glucuronidase activity in pollen is first detectable at microspore mitosis and increases thereafter. In this respect, the promoter of At-RAB2 behaves like those of class II pollen-specific genes, whose products are often required after germination for pollen tube growth. Seedling germination and pollen tube growth are notable for their unusually high rates of cell wall and membrane biosynthesis. These results are consistent with a role for At-RAB2 in secretory activity.

Type

Journal article

Journal

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Publication Date

21/01/1997

Volume

94

Pages

762 - 767

Keywords

Amino Acid Sequence, Arabidopsis, GTP-Binding Proteins, Gene Expression Regulation, Plant, Genes, Plant, Molecular Sequence Data, Plants, Genetically Modified, Pollen, RNA, Plant, Sequence Alignment, Sequence Homology, Amino Acid, rab2 GTP-Binding Protein