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The Arabidopsis Trithorax-Like Factor Atx1 Functions In Dehydration Stress Responses Via Aba-Dependent And Aba-Independent Pathways, Yong Ding, Zoya Avramova, Michael Fromm

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Emerging evidence suggests that the molecular mechanisms driving the responses of plants to environmental stresses are associated with specific chromatin modifications. Here, we demonstrate that the Arabidopsis trithorax-like factor ATX1, which trimethylates histone H3 at lysine 4 (H3K4me3), is involved in dehydration stress signaling in both abscisic acid (ABA)-dependent and ABA-independent pathways. The loss of function of ATX1 results in decreased germination rates, larger stomatal apertures, more rapid transpiration and decreased tolerance to dehydration stress in atx1 plants. This deficiency is caused in part by reduced ABA biosynthesis in atx1 plants resulting from decreased transcript levels from NCED3, which …