UC San Diego

Transcription factors are a vital class of genes in eukaryotes that regulate almost every aspect of organism development, function, and physiology. Characterizing the function of transcription factors in plants, and the regulatory networks that they make up, becomes crucial as we search for ways to adapt our food sources to the rapidly changing climate. In this thesis, we start by creating a resource of transgenic lines to aid in the identification and characterization of Arabidopsis thaliana transcription factors. We then develop several methods of testing stress-response phenotype in A. thaliana, and use the initial state of this resource to identify transcription factors that are likely to regulate stress response. The resource and methods outlined in this thesis can be developed over time to become a useful pipeline for the identification of transcription factors involved in the regulation of any plant function of interest.