Induction of stilbene synthase by Botrytis cinerea in cultured grapevine cells

The interaction between Botrytis cinerea Pers. and grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) was studied in a model system of reduced complexity. Cultured plant cells and fragments of fungal cell wall were used to simulate some of the processes taking place upon infection of grapevine with B. cinerea. A soluble glucan elicitor was prepared from the fungal cell wall by acid hydrolysis. Like the insoluble wall preparation, the soluble fragment derived from the cell wall acted upon plant cells in eliciting stilbene formation. In grapevine cells, the interaction with the fungus led to a dramatic shut-off general protein synthesis and to the selective formation of a small set of proteins involved in induced resistance. The proteins synthesized de novo with highest rates were stilbene synthase (StiSy) and l-phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL). Stilbene synthase was purified to apparent homogeneity and its molecular properties were characterized. The enzyme is a homodimer with subunit M_r 43 000 and pl = 5.4. Although there were indications of the presence of isoenzymes, these were not distinguished by charge differences. In size, the grapevine StiSy shows microheterogeneity and differs from the appreciably larger enzyme prepared from peanut. Prior to induction by fungal attack, virtually no stilbenes are formed in the plant cell. Upon induction of the pathway leading to the stilbene resveratrol, StiSy activity determines the ratelimiting step in the metabolic sequence. The highly induced grapevine cells produce and secrete resveratrol and derivatives which are known to be fungistatic.Abbreviations PAL l-phenylalanine ammonia-lyase - SDS-PAGE sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamine gel electrophoresis - StiSy stilbene synthase (resveratrol forming) The authors thank Dr. Blaich, Bundesforschungsanstalt Geilweilerhof, Siebeldingen, F.R.G., for provision of callus culture. This paper is based on research supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie.     

Control of gene expression during induction of cultured peanut cells: mRNA levels,protein synthesis and enzyme activity of stilbene synthase

Stilbene synthase is an inducible enzyme occurring in a small number of plants. The enzyme is amenable to analysis and biochemical studies only after the cells are subjected to induction. Cell suspension cultures of peanut react very selectively if elicited with biotic inducers. Just as intact peanut plants produce stilbene phytoalexins when attacked by fungi so also do sterile cultured cells when treated with sterilized insoluble fungal cell walls. Both systems react by synthesizing stilbene synthase. The time courses of increase in enzyme activity, protein synthesis and mRNA activity were studied, and their relation to other activities of the cells was elaborated. The results show that, after applying the fungal elicitor, the system responds very quickly and selectively: within 2 hours the synthesis rate of stilbene synthase protein is increased more than 30-fold, the increase being detectable 40 min after induction. The first increase in translatable mRNA for stilbene synthase can be seen 20 min after application of the stimulus. Stilbene synthase synthesized in vivo was compared to stilbene synthase prepared by translation in vitro. There was no difference in size, and limited proteolysis did not indicate significant differences in the peptide structure of the primary translation product and the active enzyme.     

Cloning and molecular analysis of structural genes involved in flavonoid and stilbene biosynthesis in grape (Vitis vinifera L.)

Genes involved in flavonoid and stilbene biosynthesis were isolated from grape (Vitis vinifera L.). Clones coding for phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), chalcone synthase (CHS), chalcone isomerase (CHI), flavanone 3-hydoxylase (F3H), dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR), leucoanthocyanidin dioxygenase (LDOX) and UDP glucose:flavonoid 3-O-glucosyl transferase (UFGT), were isolated by screening a cDNA library, obtained from mRNA from seedlings grown in light for 48 h using snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) and maize heterologous probes. A cDNA clone coding for stilbene synthase (StSy) was isolated by probing the library with a specific oligonucleotide. These clones were sequenced and when the putative products were compared to the published amino acid sequence for corresponding enzymes, the percentages of similarity ranged from 65% (UFGT) to 90% (CHS and PAL). The analysis of the genomic organization and expression of these genes in response to light shows that PAL and StSy genes belong to large multigene families, while the others are present in one to four copies per haploid genome. The steady-state level of mRNAs encoded by the flavonoid biosynthetic genes as determined in young seedlings is coordinately induced by light, except for PAL and StSy, which appear to be constitutively expressed.     

Elicitor-induced formation of free and cell-wall-bound stilbenes in cell-suspension cultures of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.)

Treatment of Pinus sylvestris L. cell-suspension cultures with an elicitor preparation from the pine needle pathogen Lophodermium seditiosum, resulted in a severalhundredto thousandfold accumulation of the stilbenes pinosylvin and pinosylvin 3-O-methyl ether in methanolic cell extracts. There was a simultaneous induction of the biosynthetic enzymes phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (E.C. 4.3.1.5.) and stilbene synthase (pinosylvin-forming, E.C. 2.3.1.146). For the first time, an incorporation of stilbenes into the cell wall fraction as well as stilbene excretion into the extracellular space was demonstrated in addition to intracellular accumulation.Abbreviations PAL phenylalanine ammonia-lyase - PS pinosylvin - PSM pinosylvin 3-O-methyl ether - STS stilbene synthase (pinosylvin-forming) This study has been supported by the Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Landesentwicklung und Umweltfragen, Fonds der chemischen Industrie, and EUROSILVA. The authors wish to thank their colleagues L. Gößl for maintaining the Scots pine cell-suspension culture, and Dr. G. Bahnweg for supplying the Lophodermium mycelia.     

Expression of a stilbene synthase gene in Nicotiana tabacum results in synthesis of the phytoalexin resveratrol

A gene from groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) coding for stilbene synthase was transferred together with a chimaeric kanamycin resistance gene. It was found to be rapidly expressed after induction with UV light and elicitor in tobacco cells (Nicotiana tabacum). Comparative studies of stilbene synthase mRNA synthesis in groudnut and transgenic tobacco suspension cultures revealed the same kinetics of gene expression. Stilbene synthase specific mRNA was detectable 30 minutes after elicitor induction and 10 minutes after UV irradiation. The maximum of mRNA accumulation was between 2 and 8 hours post induction. 24 hours after induction stilbene synthase mRNA accumulation ceased. Furthermore, in transgenic tobacco plants, the gene was found to be inducible in sterile roots, stems and leaves. Stilbene synthase was demonstrated in crude protein extracts from transgenic tobacco cell cultures using specific antibodies. Resveratrol, the product of stilbene synthase, was identified by HPLC and antisera raised against resveratrol.     

Purification and properties of a stilbene synthase from induced cell suspension cultures of peanut

Stilbene synthase ( resveratrol -forming) converts one molecule of rho- coumaroyl -CoA and three molecules of malonyl-CoA into 3,4',5- trihydroxystilbene . Following selective induction of stilbene synthesis in cell suspension cultures of peanut (Arachis hypogaea), the enzyme was extracted and purified to apparent homogeneity by chromatography on DEAE-cellulose and hydroxylapatite. The enzyme was found to be a dimer of estimated Mr = 90,000 exhibiting under denaturing conditions a subunit Mr of approximately 45,000. The isoelectric point was determined with pI = 4.8. The enzyme's high selectivity towards rho- coumaroyl -CoA (Km = 2 microM) as substrate qualified it as resveratrol -forming stilbene synthase. Structurally related CoA esters, e.g. dihydro-rho- coumaroyl -CoA and cinnamoyl-CoA, were converted less than 1/10 as efficiently as rho- coumaroyl -CoA. Malonyl-CoA (Km = 10 microM) could not be substituted by acetyl-CoA. The purified enzyme was free of chalcone synthase activity. Antibodies raised against stilbene synthase were shown to be monospecific and not to cross-react with chalcone synthase.     

花生白藜芦醇合酶基因的克隆与生物信息学分析

利用Protparam、iPSORT prediction、ProtScale、SOPMA、Swiss-Modeling和Scan Prosite等生物信息学工具分别对其理化性质、信号肽、疏水性、亲水性、二级结构和三级结构进行分析。以花生粤油45总DNA和总RNA为模板,采用PCR和RT-PCR技术克隆花生白藜芦醇合酶基因的DNA和cDNA序列,并利用SWISS-PROT、DNAMAN等生物信息学工具对其基因和蛋白质序列进行了分析。测序结果显示,该基因的DNA和cDNA序列长度分别为1 498 bp和1 251 bp,cDNA序列具有完整的开放性阅读框,编码389个氨基酸的多肽。该白藜芦醇合酶氨基酸368-378位点上存在芪合酶家族的特征位点GVLFGFGPGLT。同源性分析表明,其碱基序列与已报道的花生白藜芦醇合酶基因的一致性为99%,其氨基酸序列与已报道的花生白藜芦醇合酶氨基酸序列的一致性为100%。     

Vanadate mimics effects of fungal cell wall in eliciting gene activation in plant cell cultures

Cell-suspension cultures of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) can be used as a very sensitive and rapidly responding physiological system for monitoring extracellular signals. Elicitors effect the activation of the genes that code for a set of enzymes synthesizing stilbenes. Within 2–6 h after administering micromolar, concentrations of orthovanadate to the suspended cells, the enzyme activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, stilbene synthase, and cinnamate 4-hydroxylase increased 10-to 100-fold. The transient time course of induction, and the quality and quantity of gene expression found with vanadate as artificial elicitor were very similar to those observed after biotic stress generated by fungal cell walls. The dose-response of vanadate as an elicitor of gene expression in intact cells matched precisely its inhibitory effect on the ATPase activity of isolated plasma membrane. By concentrating, on the profiles of cinnamate 4-hydroxylase activity, we observed differences between the effects elicited by fungal cell wall or vanadate when different stages of cell development were analyzed. Unlike the fungal elicitor, vanadate did not induce the hydroxylase activity when cells at the stationary phase of the cell cycle were used. This lack of response was not the result of a decrease in membrane biosynthesis. The finding, that the effects of vanadate and fungal elicitor are additive indicates that vanadate does not interfere negatively with the perception of the biotic signal but rather addresses the same intracellular intermediate of the signalling process. We hypothesize that membrane potentials created or modulated by ATPases may be intermediates in the signal chain, starting with the recognition process at the plasma membrane and eventually leading to the production of stilbenes as low-molecular-weight plant-defence products.Abbreviations ER endoplasmic reticulum - Tris 2-amino-2-(hydroxymethyl)-1,3-propanediol deceased     

Induction of defense responses in cultured parsley cells by plant cell wall fragments

Cell suspension cultures of parsley (Petroselinum crispum) accumulated coumarin phytoalexins and exhibited increased β-1,3-glucanase activity when treated with either a purified α-1,4-d-endopolygalacturonic acid lyase from Erwinia carotovora or oligogalacturonides solubilized from parsley cell walls by endopolygalacturonic acid lyase. Coumarin accumulation induced by the plant cell wall elicitor was preceded by increases in the activities of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), 4-coumarate:CoA ligase (4CL) and S-adenosyl-l-methionine:xanthotoxol O-methyltransferase (XMT). The time courses for the changes in these three enzyme activities were similar to those observed in cell cultures treated with a fungal glucan elicitor. The plant cell wall elicitor was found to act synergistically with the fungal glucan elicitor in the induction of coumarin phytoalexins. As much as a 10-fold stimulation in coumarin accumulation above the calculated additive response was observed in cell cultures treated with combinations of plant and fungal elicitors. The synergistic effect was also observed for the induction of PAL, 4CL, and XMT activities. These results demonstrate that plant cell wall elicitors induce at least two distinct biochemical responses in parsley cells and further support the role of oligogalacturonides as important regulators of plant defense.     

Dose responses for Colletotrichum lindemuthianum elicitor-mediated enzyme induction in French bean cell suspension cultures

The induction of L-phenylalanine ammonialyase (PAL, EC 4.3.1.5) and flavanone synthase in French bean cell suspension cultures in response to heat-released elicitor from cell walls of the phytopathogenic fungus Colletotrichum lindemuthianum is highly dependent upon elicitor concentration. The elicitor dose-response curve for PAL induction shows two maxima at around 17.5 and 50 g elicitor carbohydrate per ml culture, whereas the flavanone synthase response shows one maximum at around 100 g ml^-1. The PAL response is independent of the elicitor concentration present during the lag phase of enzyme induction; if the initial elicitor concentration is increased after 2 h by addition of extra elicitor, or decreased by dilution of the cultures, the dose response curves obtained reflect the concentration of elicitor present at the time of harvest. PAL induction is not prevented by addition of methyl sugar derivatives to the cultures; -methyl-D-glucoside, itself a weak elicitor of PAL activity, elicits a multiphasic PAL response when increasing concentrations are added in the presence of Colletotrichum elicitor. Eight fractions with different monosaccharide compositions, obtained from the crude elicitor by gel-filtration, each elicit different dose-responses for PAL induction; the response to unfractionated elicitor is not the sum of the response to the isolated fractions. There is no correlation between the ability of the fractions to induce PAL in the cultures and their ability to act as elicitors of isoflavonoid phytoalexin accumulation in bean hypocotyls.Abbreviations PAL phenylalanine ammonia-lyase - PMS Phytophthora megasperma var sojae     

中国野生毛葡萄芪合成酶基因克隆及表达分析

采用RT-PCR技术克隆中国野生毛葡萄‘丹凤-2’芪合成酶基因,命名为VqDSTS1,并进行序列及表达模式分析.结果表明:VqDSTS1基因cDNA编码区全长为1 179bp,GenBank登录号为JQ342086,编码392个氨基酸;氨基酸序列分析表明,VqDSTS1含有芪合成酶基因家簇的特征识别序列‘IPNSAGAIAGN’和‘GVLFGFG-PGLT’;序列比对显示,VqDSTS1与其他葡萄种质的芪合成酶氨基酸序列一致性在95.2%～98.7%之间;半定量RT-PCR分析表明,VqDSTS1受白粉病诱导表达,呈双峰模式.为进一步研究中国野生毛葡萄‘丹凤-2’芪合成酶基因家族的表达及功能分析提供了基础.     

The effect of explant origin and collection season on stilbene biosynthesis in cell cultures of Vitis amurensis Rupr.

Plant cell and tissue cultures are considered as a source of valuable secondary metabolites but usually produce insufficient level of the compounds, which is the limiting factor for their application in biotechnology. We obtained 18 callus cell cultures from different organs of wild grape Vitis amurensis Rupr. collected at different seasons and analyzed stilbene accumulation in combination with calli growth parameters. This analysis showed that temporal and tissue origin of the calli affected the rate of stilbene biosynthesis. Stem-derived calli accumulated higher stilbene levels and exhibited a higher expression of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and stilbene synthase (STS) genes than calli derived from the leaves and petioles. The highest content of stilbenes was detected in the calli initiated from grapevine stems collected in the autumn. In general, all “autumn” cell cultures contained more than 2 mg g^??1 dry wt (up to 11 mg g^??1 dry wt) and exhibited high PAL and STS genes expression in comparison with the calli initiated in the summer. The content of stilbenes in the “autumn” cell cultures were comparable to the highest stilbene contents detected in other plant sources described in the literature. Thus, selecting the most optimal explant source for cell culture establishment could be an effective approach towards developing plant cell cultures producing high stilbene levels.

     

Plant nuclear protein p 56 and its elicitor-dependent transient biosynthesis

Summary Pulse labelling experiments with [³⁵S]L-methionine were performed to determine the rate of protein synthesis. Treatment of cultured cells of peanut with fungal cell wall led to a drastic increase in the de novo synthesis of particular proteins in the cytosol, the endoplasmic reticulum and the extracellular compartment. In the nucleus, a single newly synthesized protein, designated p 56, was detectable upon elicitation by fungal elicitor. Pulse labelling with [³⁵S]L-methionine for 1h was applied at various times following elicitation. The time course of p 56 biosynthesis was transient and the maximum of p 56 de novo synthesis preceded the one of the cytosolic protein stilbene synthase. The preferential de novo synthesis and transfer of p 56 to the nucleus, only briefly before the elicitortriggered signal chain causes the activation of nuclear defence genes, makes it a good candidate as member of the signal transduction machinery to the nucleus. p 56 was further characterized by its size as N-octyl--D-glucoside micelle. Selective solubilization experiments showed that p 56 is a hydrophobic, not salt extractable protein rather well protected against partial proteolysis.Abbreviation CHAPS 3-(cholamidopropyl-dimethylammonio)-propane-1-sulfonate