The role of Cdpk6 in development

The research programme is focussed on determining the role of CDPKs in abiotic stress response. We chose several CDPKs for investigation, some which have been implicated in the response to abiotic stress (Sheen 1996), others whose function is unknown. We constructed gene fusions with YFP as a 3_in-frame fusion to investigate cellular/tissue expression; the gene-specific DNA includes 1.5kb 5'-untranslated region. Plants carrying the Cdpk6-yfp construct show a marked alteration in phenotype: the (probable)-heterozygote is small and bushy and the (probable)-homozygote shows an excess of flower primordia and insufficient leaf development. These plants do not survive. The expression of Cdpk6 as measured using a GUS-promoter fusion is confined to the developing flowerheads although the Cdpk6-YFP plants show more widespread expression. We have made RNA from two separate insertion lines of Cdpk6-YFP and from Col-0 plants carrying the aequorin gene all grown on selective medium. We cannot collect homozygote seed; the seedlings germinating from seeds collected from heterzygous plants grown on selective medium will consist of both heterozygous and homozygous individuals. Keywords: strain_or_line_design Number of plants pooled:about 40 Biological replicates: 2