Poster Presentation 41st Lorne Genome Conference 2020

Identifying genetic interactors of POWERDRESS - A gene required for plant thermal response (#241)

Avilash Singh Yadav 1 , Nikita Bungay 1 , Ya-Long Guo 2 , Sridevi Sureshkumar 1 , Sureshkumar Balasubramanian 1
  1. Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  2. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiangshan, Beijing, China

Plants, being sessile organisms, are highly sensitive and responsive to fluctuations in ambient temperature. Our understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms through which ambient temperature modulates the morphology (thermomorphogenesis) is still at its nascent stage. Using Arabidopsis as a model, several key genes involved in thermomorphogenesis have recently been identified. We have shown that histone deacetylation mediated by POWERDRESS (PWR), a SANT domain containing protein is essential for thermomorphogenesis. PWR forms a part of the nuclear receptor co-repressor (N-CoR) complex together with HISTONE DEACETYLASE 9 (HDA9) and HIGH EXPRESSION OF OSMOTICALLY RESPONSIVE GENES15 (HOS15).  pwr mutants show significantly reduced thermomorphogenic response. Here, we carried out a suppressor screen to identify genetic interactors of PWR. Genetic analysis with a subset of suppressors identified two complementation groups. Using next generation sequencing based gene mapping, putative mutations in these suppressors have been identified. For one of the suppressors, mutations in multiple candidate genes have been identified and these candidates are currently being tested. We will present the results of genetic analysis and discuss the potential roles of the candidate genes.