EXPLORING THE ROLE OF A NEW PLANT
SPECIFIC WG/GW PROTEIN FAMILY IN
RESPONSE TO HEAT STRESS

Azevedo Favory, Emilie Alart, Laudie Michèle, Pontier Dominique, Vignols

Florence, Hakimi Mohamed-Ali, Lagrange Thierry

► To cite this version:

Azevedo Favory, Emilie Alart, Laudie Michèle, Pontier Dominique, Vignols Florence, et al.. EXPLOR-
ING THE ROLE OF A NEW PLANT SPECIFIC WG/GW PROTEIN FAMILY IN RESPONSE TO
HEAT STRESS. Epiplant 2021 -III, GDR Epiplant, Feb 2021, Perpignan, France. hal-04920863

HAL Id: hal-04920863

https://hal.science/hal-04920863v1

Submitted on 31 Jan 2025

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Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
EXPLORING THE ROLE OF A NEW PLANT SPECIFIC WG/GW PROTEIN FAMILY IN
RESPONSE TO HEAT STRESS

AZEVEDO FAVORY Jacinthe<fnref n="1" />, ALART Emilie<fnref n="1" />, PICART Claire<fnref n="1" />, LAUDIE Michèle, PONTIER Dominique, VIGNOLS Florence<fnref n="1" />, HAKIMI Mohamed-Ali<fnref n="2" />, LAGRANGE Thierry<fnref n="1" />

Plants evolved to acquire sophisticated and specialized RNA silencing pathways, leading to sequence
specific regulations through Argonaute effector proteins guided by small RNAs (sRNA), targeting
either DNA or RNA. Our lab contributed to the development of an original aspect highlighting the
existence of an evolutionary GW-rich conserved motif in factors implicated in AGO action, and
defined as "Ago hook" proteins. In order to propose a systematic, cross-species approach to the
identification of Ago-hook proteins, we developed a bioinformatic screen based on the presence of a
GW/WG dipeptide in a compositionally-biased environment. Among candidates identified in A.
thaliana, one protein family stands out from factors previously described. This new protein family,
composed of two members, is conserved among angiosperms and presents no other known functional
domain. Whereas first evidences confirm their AGO-hook properties, our last breakthroughs lead to us
to reconsider their role at the crossroads of RNA silencing and abiotic stress regulation pathways,
thereby raising many questions at this stage of our work.

<footnote n="1">¹ Laboratoire Génomes et Développement des Plantes, UMR5096, CNRS/UPVD, Perpignan, FRANCE</footnote>

<footnote n="2">² Host-Pathogen Interactions and Immunity to Infections, Institute for Advanced Biosciences (IAB), UMR5309 INSERM/CNRS/Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, FRANCE</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³ Biochimie et Physiologie Moléculaire des Plantes, University of Montpellier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, SupAgro, 34060 Montpellier, FRANCE</footnote>