BLASTn results in the following top hits with the original sequence:

Sequences producing significant alignments: (Click headers to sort columns)

Accession	Description	Max score	Total score	Query coverage	E value	Max ident	Links
AY109635.1	Zea mays CL8958_1 mRNA sequence	968	1067	86%	0.0	100%
EU956683.1	Zea mays clone 1570618 CCR4-NOT transcription complex subunit 2 mRNA, complete cds	669	1208	95%	0.0	99%

BLASTx produced the following nonconclusive top hits with the original sequence:   

                                                                Score     E
                                                                  (Bits)  Value

gb|ACG28801.1|  CCR4-NOT transcription complex subunit 2 [Zea ...   103    2e-20
gb|EEE59883.1|  hypothetical protein OsJ_12483 [Oryza sativa J...  73.6    1e-11

The following top hits were produced with BLASTx using the MEC (>MEC_87930_P98-Mar06) sequence:

                                                                   Score     E
Sequences producing significant alignments:                       (Bits)  Value

gb|ACG28801.1|  CCR4-NOT transcription complex subunit 2 [Zea ...   302    4e-80
gb|EEE59883.1|  hypothetical protein OsJ_12483 [Oryza sativa J...   195    8e-48
gb|EEC76138.1|  hypothetical protein OsI_13424 [Oryza sativa I...   195    8e-48

Plant J. 2007 Sep;51(5):792-802. Epub 2007 Jun 21. Links

Capsicum annuum CCR4-associated factor CaCAF1 is necessary for plant development and defence response.

Sarowar S, Oh HW, Cho HS, Baek KH, Seong ES, Joung YH, Choi GJ, Lee S, Choi D.

Plant Genome Research Center, KRIBB, Daejeon, Korea.

The CCR4-associated factor 1 (CAF1) protein belongs to the CCR4-NOT complex, which is an evolutionary conserved protein complex and plays an important role in the control of transcription and mRNA decay in yeast and mammals. To investigate the function of CAF1 in plants, we performed gain- and loss-of-function studies by overexpression of the pepper CAF1 (CaCAF1) in tomato and virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) of the gene in pepper plants. Overexpression of CaCAF1 in tomato resulted in significant growth enhancement, with increasing leaf thickness, and enlarged cell size by more than twofold when compared with the control plants. A transmission electron microscopic analysis revealed that the CaCAF1-transgenic tomato plants had thicker cell walls and cuticle layers than the control plants. In addition to developmental changes, overexpression of CaCAF1 in tomato plants resulted in enhanced resistance against the oomycete pathogen Phytophthora infestans. Additionally, microarray, northern and real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses of CaCAF1-transgenic tomato plants revealed that multiple genes were constitutively upregulated, including genes involved in polyamine biosynthesis, defence reactions and cell-wall organogenesis. In contrast, VIGS of CaCAF1 in pepper plants caused significant growth retardation and enhanced susceptibility to the pepper bacterial spot pathogen Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vesicatoria. Our results suggest roles for plant CAF1 in normal growth and development, as well as in defence against pathogens.

PMID: 17587232 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

J Biol Chem. 2008 Mar 14;283(11):6806-16. Epub 2008 Jan 7. Links

Components of the CCR4-NOT complex function as nuclear hormone receptor coactivators via association with the NRC-interacting Factor NIF-1.

Garapaty S, Mahajan MA, Samuels HH.

Department of Pharmacology and Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA.

CCR4-NOT is an evolutionarily conserved, multicomponent complex known to be involved in transcription as well as mRNA degradation. Various subunits (e.g. CNOT1 and CNOT7/CAF1) have been reported to be involved in influencing nuclear hormone receptor activities. Here, we show that CCR4/CNOT6 and RCD1/CNOT9, members of the CCR4-NOT complex, potentiate nuclear receptor activity. RCD1 interacts in vivo and in vitro with NIF-1 (NRC-interacting factor), a previously characterized nuclear receptor cotransducer that activates nuclear receptors via its interaction with NRC. As with NIF-1, RCD1 and CCR4 do not directly associate with nuclear receptors; however, they enhance ligand-dependent transcriptional activation by nuclear hormone receptors. CCR4 mediates its effect through the ligand binding domain of nuclear receptors and small interference RNA-mediated silencing of endogenous CCR4 results in a marked decrease in nuclear receptor activation. Furthermore, knockdown of CCR4 results in an attenuated stimulation of RARalpha target genes (e.g. Sox9 and HoxA1) as shown by quantitative PCR assays. The silencing of endogenous NIF-1 also resulted in a comparable decrease in the RAR-mediated induction of both Sox9 and HoxA1. Furthermore, CCR4 associates in vivo with NIF-1. In addition, the CCR4-enhanced transcriptional activation by nuclear receptors is dependent on NIF-1. The small interference RNA-mediated knockdown of NIF-1 blocks the ligand-dependent potentiating effect of CCR4. Our results suggest that CCR4 plays a role in the regulation of certain endogenous RARalpha target genes and that RCD1 and CCR4 might mediate their function through their interaction with NIF-1.

PMID: 18180299 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]