Identification of drought stress related genes in NatA depleted mutants

N-terminal protein acetylation is one of the most common protein modifications in eucaryotes and is catalyzed co-translationally by N-terminal aceytltransferases (Nats). Regarding the number of predictaed substrates, NatA is the main Nat complex in human and yeast and is composed of the catalytic subunit NAA10 and the auxilliary subunit NAA15. The down-regulation of NAA10 and NAA15 results in Arabidopsis in drought resistant plants. This study focus on the identification of altered gene expression leading to the drought resistant phenotype. Microarray analysis was used to identify misregulated genes in the NatA depleted mutants responsible for the drought resistant phenotype Arabidopsis thaliana plants were grown on soil for 6 weeks under short-day conditions (8h light / 16h dark cycles) with normal watering and subsequently challenged with drought for 10 days. After 10 days of drought Arabidopsis leaf material was harvested and used for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. Four biological replicates from each genotype and condition were analyzed.