Control of somatic embryogenesis and embryo development by AP2 transcription factors.

Members of the AP2 family of transcription factors, such as BABY BOOM (BBM), play important roles in cell proliferation and embryogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana (AtBBM) and Brassica napus (BnBBM) but how this occurs is not understood. We have isolated three AP2 genes (GmBBM1, GmAIL5, GmPLT2) from somatic embryo cultures of soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr, and discovered GmBBM1 to be homologous to AtBBM and BnBBM.

The stability of the Arabidopsis transcriptome in transgenic plants expressing the marker genes nptII and uidA.

The ATH1 Arabidopsis GeneChip from Affymetrix was used to search for transcriptome changes in Arabidopsis associated with the strong expression of transgenes regulated by constitutive promoters. The insertion and expression of the commonly used marker genes, uidA and nptII, did not induce changes to the expression patterns of the approximately 24 000 genes that were screened under optimal growth conditions and under physiological stress imposed by low temperatures. Approximately 8000 genes (35% of the Arabidopsis genome) underwent changes in gene expression in both wild-type and transgenic plants under abiotic stresses such as salt, dehydration, cold, and heat.