regulates the kinetics of heat-induced expression in Arabidopsis.

Arabidopsis contains four heat shock transcription factors ( , , , and ) that regulate the primary response to high temperature stress responses. These genes have overlapping functions and, while double and triple mutants have thermotolerance phenotypes, these genes have no reported single mutant thermotolerance phenotypes. We used an automated fluorescence microscopy system to quantitate the expression of a 6:GFP reporter with high temporal resolution to show that is required for normal heat-induced expression.

The RootScope: a simple high-throughput screening system for quantitating gene expression dynamics in plant roots.

Background: High temperature stress responses are vital for plant survival. The mechanisms that plants use to sense high temperatures are only partially understood and involve multiple sensing and signaling pathways. Here we describe the development of the RootScope, an automated microscopy system for quantitating heat shock responses in plant roots.