Study of the function of COX17 by transcriptional profiling of Arabidopsis thaliana cox17-2 mutant plants with COX17-1 silenced by amiRNA (amiCOX17-1/cox17-2 plants). Study of the function of COX17 by transcriptional profiling of Arabidopsis thaliana cox17-2 mutant plants with COX17-1 silenced by amiRNA (amiCOX17-1/cox17-2 plants)

COX17 is a soluble protein from the mitochondrial intermembrane space that participates in the transfer of copper for cytochrome c oxidase (COX) assembly in eukaryotic organisms. The function of both Arabidopsis thaliana AtCOX17 genes were studied using plants with altered expression levels of these genes. Silencing of AtCOX17-1 in a cox17-2 knockout background generates plants with smaller rosettes and decreased expression of genes involved in the response of plants to different stress conditions, including several genes that are induced by mitochondrial dysfunctions. These results together with other experiments indicate that AtCOX17 is required for optimal expression of a group of stress-responsive genes, probably as a component of signalling pathways that link stress conditions to gene expression responses. Overall design: Two-condition experiment, Control vs. Silenced Plants. Biological replicates: 2 control, 2 silenced.

COX17是一类源自线粒体膜间间隙(mitochondrial intermembrane space)的可溶性蛋白，参与真核生物细胞色素c氧化酶(cytochrome c oxidase, COX)组装过程中的铜离子转运。本研究针对拟南芥(Arabidopsis thaliana)的两个AtCOX17基因的功能展开探究，采用了上述基因表达水平发生改变的植株作为实验材料。在cox17-2敲除(knockout)背景中沉默AtCOX17-1，可获得莲座叶丛变小、参与植物多种胁迫应答的基因表达水平下调的植株，其中包含多个由线粒体功能异常诱导的基因。上述结果结合其他实验证实，AtCOX17对于一组胁迫响应基因的最优表达不可或缺，其可能作为连接胁迫条件与基因表达应答的信号通路组分发挥作用。实验整体设计：双条件对照实验，对照组与沉默植株组。生物学重复数：对照组2次，沉默组2次。