CESTA transcript analysis

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are steroid hormones that are essential for the development of plants. A tight control of BR homeostasis is vital for modulating their impact on various growth responses. However, whilst it is recognized that the rapid adaptation of de novo synthesis plays a key role in adjusting required BR levels, our knowledge of the mechanisms governing feedback control is limited. We identified the transcription factor CESTA as a novel regulator of BR biosynthesis. ces-D was isolated in a screen of Arabidopsis mutants by BR over-accumulation phenotypes. Loss-of-function analysis and the use of a dominant repressor version revealed functional overlap among CESTA and its homologues and confirmed the role of these basic helix-loop-helix proteins in the positive control of BR biosynthetic gene expression. In this experiment we compare the transcriptome of the CESTA mutant to wild-type plants using the Affymetrix ATH1 array. 4 samples were used in this experiment.