The APETALA2 (AP2) genes represent the AP2 group within a large group of DNA-binding proteins called AP2/EREBP. The AP2 gene is functional and necessary for flower development, stem cell maintenance, and seed development, whereas the other members of AP2 group redundantly affect flowering time. Here we study the phylogeny of AP2 group genes in spermatophytes. Spermatophyte AP2 group genes can b...

We identified 131 AP2/ERF (APETALA2/ethylene-responsive factor) genes in material from peach using the gene sequences of AP2/ERF amino acids of Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae) as probes. Based on the number of AP2/ERF domains and individual gene characteristics, the AP2/ERF superfamily gene in peach can be classified broadly into three families, ERF (ethylene-responsive factor), RAV (r...

Proper control of hepatic glucose production is central to whole-body glucose homeostasis, and its disruption plays a major role in diabetes. Here, we demonstrate that although established as an intracellular lipid chaperone, aP2 is in fact actively secreted from adipocytes to control liver glucose metabolism. Secretion of aP2 from adipocytes is regulated by fasting- and lipolysis-related signa...

Clathrin-mediated endocytosis, which depends on the AP2 complex, plays an essential role in many cellular and developmental processes in mammalian cells. However, the function of the AP2 complex in plants remains largely unexplored. Here, we show in Arabidopsis that the AP2 σ subunit mutant (ap2 σ) displays various developmental defects that are similar to those of mutants defective in auxin tr...

APETALA2 (AP2) plays an important role in the control of Arabidopsis flower and seed development and encodes a putative transcription factor that is distinguished by a novel DNA binding motif referred to as the AP2 domain. In this study we show that the AP2 domain containing or RAP2 (related to AP2) family of proteins is encoded by a minimum of 12 genes in Arabidopsis. The RAP2 genes encode two...

Adipocyte fatty acid binding protein 4, aP2, contributes to the pathogenesis of several common diseases including type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, fatty liver disease, asthma, and cancer. Although the biological functions of aP2 have classically been attributed to its intracellular action, recent studies demonstrated that aP2 acts as an adipokine to regulate systemic metabolism. However, the m...

The adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein, aP2 or ALBP, is an abundant cytosolic protein postulated to function in binding and intracellular transport of long-chain fatty acids. In this report, we investigated levels of aP2 mRNA and protein and transcriptional activity of the aP2 gene in tissues from streptozotocin-diabetic rats at different time periods following the induction of diabetes. An a...