Investigating the function of CAF1 deadenylases during plant stress responses.

Alteration of gene expression plays a central role in the transmission of developmental and environmental signals. The steady-state transcript level within a cell is determined by the combination of the rate synthesis and the rate of degradation. While altering the rate of mRNA turnover is known to provide a rapid mechanism to reprogram transcript levels, research has largely focused on changes in transcriptional regulation as a mechanism to control mRNA levels. However, recent studies have begun to explore the role of mRNA decay in reprogramming the transcriptome.