Hudak, Katalin A.Diaz, Camille Anne2020-05-112020-05-112019-092020-05-11https://hdl.handle.net/10315/37361Phytolacca americana (American pokeweed) expresses pokeweed antiviral protein (PAP), a ribosome-inactivating protein (RIP) thought to function in defence. Several PAP isoforms are differentially responsive to jasmonic acid (JA), a phytohormone that mediates resistance against pathogen infections and herbivory. However, few RIP promoters have been characterized and little is known about RIP regulation in their native contexts. In this study, I identified the PAP promoters and discovered long introns in the 5 untranslated regions (5UTRs) of PAP genes. qRT-PCR and reporter assays revealed that both the PAP-I promoter and intron can independently drive gene expression, leading to the transcription of mRNA variants with distinct 5UTRs. In addition, a G-BOX promoter element was found to be required for the JA-mediated upregulation of PAP-I. Differential expression analysis confirmed that several PAP isoforms are responsive to other stresses, in addition to JA. This foundational work sheds light on the endogenous regulation of PAP.Author owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.Molecular biologyElectronic Thesis or Dissertation2020-05-11Alternative promoterIntronGene regulationAntiviral proteinPokeweedPokeweed antiviral proteinPlant molecular biologyTranscriptionPlant hormoneStress responseJasmonic acid