Two loss-of-function alleles of the glutathione S-transferase (GST) gene cause anthocyanin deficiency in flower and fruit skin of peach (Prunus persica)

Flower and fruit colors are important agronomic traits. To date, there is no forward genetic evidence that the glutathione S-transferase (GST) gene is responsible for the white flower color in peach (Prunus persica). In this study, genetic analysis indicated that the white-flower trait is monogenetic, is recessive to the non-white allele, and shows pleiotropic effects with non-white-flowered types. The genetic locus underpinning this trait was mapped onto chromosome 3 between 0.421951 and 3.227115 Mb by using bulked segregant analysis in conjunction with whole-genome sequencing, and was further mapped between 0 and 1.178149 Mb by using the backcross 1 (BC₁) population. Finally, the locus was fine-mapped within 535.974- and 552.027-kb intervals by using 151 F₂ individuals and 75 individuals from a BC₁ self-pollinated (BC₁S₁) population, respectively. Pp3G013600, encoding a GST that is known to transport anthocyanin, was identified within the mapping interval. The analysis of genome sequence data showed Pp3G013600 in white flowers has a 2-bp insertion or a 5-bp deletion in the third exon. These variants likely render the GST non-functional because of early stop codons that reduce the protein length from 215 amino acids to 167 and 175 amino acids, respectively. Genetic markers based on these variants validated a complete correlation between the GST loss-of-function alleles and white flower in 128 peach accessions. This correlation was further confirmed by silencing of Pp3G013600 using virus-induced gene silencing technology, which reduced anthocyanin accumulation in peach fruit. The new knowledge from this study is useful for designing peach breeding programs to generate cultivars with white flower and fruit skin.     

Effect of mannitol and glucose-induced osmotic stress on growth,water relations,and solute composition of cell suspension cultures of poplar (Populus deltoides var.Occidentalis) in relation to anthocyanin accumulation

Summary A cell suspension culture of poplar (Populus deltoides (Marsh.) Bartr. var.occidentalis Rydb.), accumulating the anthocyanin pigment, cyanidin 3-glucoside, in the lag phase of culture growth, was subjected to osmotic stress with glucose and mannitol. Osmotic stress treatments resulted in growth suppression and higher anthocyanin accumulation compared with unstressed cells. Both an increase in the proportion of pigmented cells and an increase in the concentration of anthocyanin in the pigmented cells were responsible for high anthocyanin content of cultured cells subjected to osmotic stress. The osmotic stress induced by glucose suppressed growth more than that by mannitol and produced higher anthocyanin levels. Only small amounts of [U-¹⁴C]mannitol were taken up and metabolized by the cells. Stressed cells accumulated sugars and free amino acids to a different extent resulting in altered cell sugar-to-amino acid ratios. The accumulation of osmotically active solutes and cell growth suppression may both be responsible for the accumulation of anthocyanin in stressed cells.     

Relationships between floral organization, architecture, and pollination mode inDillenia (Dilleniaceae)

The flowers ofDillenia are highly elaborate pollen-flowers adapted to buzzpollination byXylocopa bees. Two major forms of floral architecture (revolver flowers and roundabout flowers) are associated with two different pollination modes. In the first (e.g.,D. suffruticosa), the pollination organs are connivent to a cone; the pollinator grasps the entire cone with its legs and buzzes it; it revolves around its axis and repeats the buzzing in different positions. In the second (e.g.,D. alata, D. philippinensis), the stylar branches are spreading and the stamens are arranged in two sets of two different forms and colourations. The inner set has fewer and longer stamens that are cryptic pollination stamens; those of the outer set are shorter but optically conspicuous feeding stamens. The pollinator squeezes itself under the stylar branches and handles only the outer set by grasping part of the set at a time; it moves tangentially around the flower with several buzzing-stops; when buzzing pollen is sprayed onto its side and back from the inner stamen set. Centrifugal polyandrous androecia are a constitutive feature of flowers inDilleniaceae. InDillenia the centrifugal initiation of stamens proceeds for an unusually long time and is still not finished when the gynoecium is completely closed (in contrast toTetracera). The differentiation of heteranthery seems to be functionally correlated with the extended centrifugal inception. The latest formed stamens are small and sterile in many species. Generic features ofDillenia flowers can be understood from the roundabout architecture: big size, increased number of carpels, syncarpy forming a firm pedestal and spreading firm stylar branches with small, concave stigmas at the end, stamens with short, stout filaments and much elongated poricidal anthers, heteranthery, recurved stamens of the inner set.Dedicated to emer. Univ.-Prof. DrFriedrich Ehrendorfer on the occasion of his 70th birthday     

黑果枸杞LrTTG1基因的克隆及表达分析

以黑果枸杞为材料,利用RT PCR和RACE技术克隆了花青素合成相关基因LrTTG1（GenBank登录号为MH633481）。序列分析表明,LrTTG1基因cDNA全长1 453 bp,包含1 029 bp开放阅读框,编码342个氨基酸,含有5个WD40重复基序。同源比对结果表明,LrTTG1与茄子SmTTG1的氨基酸序列相似性较高,达到83.73%。qRT PCR分析显示,LrTTG1基因在茎、叶、花、青果、紫果和黑果中均有表达,且在青果中的表达水平（最高）约为黑果（最低）的4倍;紫外胁迫下LrTTG1基因的表达随胁迫时间的延长呈先降低后升高的变化趋势。花青素含量分析表明,黑果的花青素含量最高（11.3 mg/g）,分别约为紫果（ 1.2 mg/g）和青果（0.53 mg/g）含量的9.4倍和21.3倍。研究表明,随着黑果枸杞果实的发育,LrTTG1基因的表达量呈现下降趋势,而花青素的含量则呈上升趋势,两者呈负相关关系;推测LrTTG1基因在黑果枸杞花青素合成中可能具有重要的调节作用。     

葡萄风信子MaGT1基因的克隆及其表达分析

该研究以葡萄风信子(Muscari ameniacum)‘亚美尼亚’为试材,克隆了花青素合成途径过程中的类黄酮糖基转移酶基因MaGT1(GenBank登录号MK652470)。该基因开放阅读框全长1 338 bp,编码445个氨基酸,预测蛋白分子量为49.301 kD,理论等电点为5.40。结构分析显示,MaGT1蛋白具有PSPG保守结构域、UDP 糖基转移酶家族结构域和UDP 葡萄糖醛酸基/葡萄糖基转移酶保守域(UDPGT)。进化分析表明,MaGT1蛋白与油棕、海枣、葡萄亲缘关系相近,聚类于类黄酮糖苷糖基转移酶类分支,以UDP 葡萄糖/鼠李糖为主要糖供体。花青苷含量测定显示,花青苷仅在葡萄风信子着色的花中积累,在根、鳞茎和叶以及未着色的花蕾(S1)中几乎检测不到花青苷,且随着花的发育,花青苷含量不断增加,并在衰败期(S5)达到最高。荧光定量PCR分析表明,MaGT1基因的表达具有显著的时空特异性,并在花中优势表达,而在根、鳞茎和叶片中微量表达;在花发育不同阶段,MaGT1基因的表达量随着花发育不断增加,并在盛花期达到峰值。研究表明,MaGT1蛋白催化反应是花青素合成途径中的重要修饰步骤。该研究结果为进一步分析MaGT1基因在葡萄风信子花青素合成和调控中的功能提供了依据。     

Cloning and Nucleotide Sequence of a New Insertion Sequence, IS231N, from a Non-Serotypable Strain of Bacillus thuringiensis

A new IS231 variant, IS231N, has been isolated from an autoagglutinable, non-serotypable strain of B. thuringiensis. IS231N is 1654 bp in length and is delimited by two incomplete 20-bp inverted repeats (IR_L and IR_R) with two mismatches. No direct repeats (DRs) were found at the right and left borders of IS231N. Surprisingly, IS231N contains three open reading frames (ORFs) that could code for polypeptides of 329 (ORF1), 118 (ORF2), and 17 (ORF3) amino acids, respectively. IS231N lacks the 5th conserved amino acid domain, called C2, owing to the addition of an adenine residue at nucleotide 1319. IS231N shows the highest nucleotide identity (99%) with IS231M, another insertion sequence previously isolated from the same bacterial strain. IS231N, however, shares only 83% amino acid identity with IS231M because of nucleotide substitutions and additions. The ORF1 of IS231N has five fewer amino acids than ORF1 of IS231M. Furthermore, the ORF2-3 putative fusion product in IS231N contains eight fewer amino acids than ORF2 in IS231M. The dendrogram showing the evolutionary relationship between members of the IS231 family and IS231N indicates that IS231N is phylogenetically more closely related to IS231M (83%), followed by IS231F(74%), and is more distant from IS231V and W(46%). Received: 4 January 2001/Accepted: 6 February 2001     

箭叶淫羊藿EsUF3GT基因的克隆及表达分析

类黄酮3-O-糖基转移酶(flavonoid 3-O-glucosyltransferase,UF3GT)可以把不稳定的花色素催化成花色素苷。本研究采用同源基因克隆技术获得箭叶淫羊藿Epimedium sagittatum(Sieb.and Zucc.)Maxim.UF3GT基因c DNA开放阅读框(Open Reading Frame,ORF)序列,命名为Es UF3GT(Gen Bank注册号为KJ648620)。序列分析表明,该基因ORF全长为1356 bp,编码451个氨基酸,与其它植物中UF3GT蛋白序列的相似性为40%~50%。进化树分析发现,Es UF3GT同催化类黄酮3-O糖基化的糖基转移酶聚为一枝。qRTPCR分析结果显示,Es UF3GT在花中的表达量最高,约为叶片、花蕾中表达水平的2.3倍,果实及根中表达水平的19倍。花青素含量检测表明,花蕾中的含量最高(130.4 mg/100 g),分别是叶片、花、果实及根中含量的3.5、5.2、72、87倍。我们推测Es UF3GT参与了箭叶淫羊藿花色素苷的生物合成,此结果为深入开展EsUF3GT的生化功能研究奠定了基础。     

High hexokinase activity in tomato fruit perturbs carbon and energy metabolism and reduces fruit and seed size

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum var MP‐1) plants overexpressing Arabidopsis hexokinase 1 (AtHXK1) exhibited high hexokinase (HXK) activity in correlation with drastic phenotypic modifications in fruit. Transgenic fruit and seeds were reduced in size. Reduction in fruit size was due to decreased cell expansion, which could not be corrected by perfusion with sucrose (Suc). Neither could wild type (WT) fruit and seed size be obtained by grafting of transgenic flowers onto WT shoots. Starch and hexose contents were lower but organic and amino acids were higher in transgenic fruit. Lower respiratory rates measured in vitro accompanied by even lower ATP levels and ATP/ADP ratios indicated metabolic perturbations that may explain, in part, reduced fruit and seed size.     

Cloning of a 9-<Emphasis Type="Italic">cis</Emphasis>-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase gene (<Emphasis Type="Italic">SgNCED1</Emphasis>) from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Stylosanthes guianensis </Emphasis>and its expression in response to abiotic stresses

Abscisic acid (ABA) regulates plant adaptive responses to various environmental stresses. Oxidative cleavage of cis-epoxycarotenoids catalyzed by 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED) is the main regulatory step in the biosynthesis of ABA in higher plants. A NCED gene, SgNCED1, was cloned from the dehydrated leaves of Stylosanthes guianensis. The 2,241-bp full-length SgNCED1 had a 1,809-bp ORF, which encodes a peptide of 602 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence of SgNCED1 protein shared high identity with other NCEDs. At the N-terminus of the SgNCED1 located a chloroplast transit peptide sequence. DNA blot analysis revealed that SgNCED1 was a single copy gene in the genome of S. guianensis. The relationship between expression of SgNCED1 and endogenous ABA level was investigated. The expression of SgNCED1 was induced in both leaves and roots of S. guianensis under drought stress. Dehydration and salt stress induced the expression of SgNCED1 strongly and rapidly. The ABA accumulation was coincidently induced with the SgNCED1 mRNA under drought, dehydration and salt stress. The expression of SgNCED1 and ABA accumulation were also induced under chilling condition.     

Complete Sequence of Plasmid pMP1 from the Marine Environmental Vibrio vulnificus and Location of Its Replication Origin

A novel cryptic plasmid, pMP1, from an environmental Vibrio vulnificus MP-4 isolated from Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong, has been characterized. The 7.6-kb plasmid had guanine–cytosine content of 40.03% and encoded four open reading frames (ORFs) with >100 amino acids. The predicted protein of ORF1 contained 478 amino acids showing 29% identity and 50% similarity over 309 amino acids to the integrase of Vibrio cholerae phage VP2. ORF2 encoded a putative protein of 596 amino acids, which were 23% identity and 42% similarity over 455 amino acids to the tail tape measure protein TP901 of Chromohalobacter salexigens phage. ORF3 and ORF4 encoded putative proteins of 103 and 287 amino acids, respectively, but showed no homologies to any known proteins. Further experiments indicated that a 3.2-kb fragment from EcoRI digestion could self-replicate. Analysis indicated that a sequence upstream of ORF4 had the features characteristic of theta-type replicons: AT-rich region, six potential direct repeats (iterons) spaced approximately two DNA helical turn apart (about 23 bp), two copies of 9 bp dnaA boxes, three Dam methylation sites, and five inverted repeats. Complementation experiments confirmed that the protein encoded by ORF4 was required for plasmid replication. We propose that ORF4 encode a new type of Rep protein and pMP1 is a new type of theta plasmid.     

Cloning and Sequence Analysis of Vibrio halioticoli Genes Encoding Three Types of Polyguluronate Lyase

The alginate lyase-coding genes of Vibrio halioticoli IAM 14596^T, which was isolated from the gut of the abalone Haliotis discus hannai, were cloned using plasmid vector pUC 18, and expressed in Escherichia coli. Three alginate lyase-positive clones, pVHB, pVHC, and pVHE, were obtained, and all clones expressed the enzyme activity specific for polyguluronate. Three genes, alyVG1, alyVG2, and alyVG3, encoding polyguluronate lyase were sequenced: alyVG1 from pVHB was composed of a 1056-bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding 352 amino acid residues; alyVG2 gene from pVHC was composed of a 993-bp ORF encoding 331 amino acid residues; and alyVG3 gene from pVHE was composed of a 705-bp ORF encoding 235 amino acid residues. Comparison of nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences among AlyVG1, AlyVG2, and AlyVG3 revealed low homologies. The identity value between AlyVG1 and AlyVG2 was 18.7%, and that between AlyVG2 and AlyVG3 was 17.0%. A higher identity value (26.0%) was observed between AlyVG1 and AlyVG3. Sequence comparison among known polyguluronate lyases including AlyVG1, AlyVG2, and AlyVG3 also did not reveal an identical region in these sequences. However, AlyVG1 showed the highest identity value (36.2%) and the highest similarity (73.3%) to AlyA from Klebsiella pneumoniae. A consensus region comprising nine amino acid (YFKAGXYXQ) in the carboxy-terminal region previously reported by Mallisard and colleagues was observed only in AlyVG1 and AlyVG2. Received May 7, 1999; accepted September 4, 1999.     

葡萄风信子MaHY5基因的克隆与表达分析

HY5(ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL5)是促进植物光形态建成过程中非常重要的转录因子。该研究以亚美尼亚葡萄风信子(Muscari armeniacum)为材料,克隆出1个bZIP型转录因子基因MaHY5(GenBank 登录号MK281355)。生物信息学分析显示,MaHY5基因开放阅读框为438 bp,编码145个氨基酸,蛋白质分子量约为16.1 kD,理论等电点为9.78,含有一个保守的bZIP特征结构域;MaHY5蛋白属于亲水性蛋白,无信号肽结构,属于非分泌蛋白,可能定位于细胞核。序列比对和进化树分析表明,HY5在进化过程中高度保守。实时荧光定量PCR和高效液相色谱检测分析表明,MaHY5基因的表达与花青素积累模式基本协同,都在花中优势表达,且在完全开放的花朵中表达较高。 推测MaHY5基因可能参与了葡萄风信子花色素积累过程。     

Kinetic and proteomic analyses of <Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis>-nitrosoglutathione-treated hexokinase A: consequences for cancer energy metabolism

Summary. Mammalian hexokinase (HXK) is found at the outer mitochondrial membrane, exposed to mitochondrial oxygen- and nitrogen-radicals. Given the important role of this enzyme in metabolic pathways and diseases, the effect of S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) on HXK A structure and activity was studied. To focus on the catalytic domain, yeast HXK A was used because it has a significant homology to the mammalian domain that contains both the regulatory and catalytic sites. Biologically relevant [GSNO]/[HXK] caused a significant decrease in V_max with glucose (but not with fructose), along with oxidation of 5 Met and nitration of 4 Tyr. Preincubation of HXK with glucose abrogated the effect of GSNO whereas fructose was ineffective. These results are interpreted by considering the tight binding of glucose to the enzyme as opposed to that of fructose. The segment comprised from amino acids 304 to 306 contained the most modifications. Given that this sequence is highly conserved in HXK from various species, a decline in activity is expected when a high-affinity substrate is presented. Considering that changes in primary structure are envisioned at high [GSNO]/[HXK] ratios, like those present under normal conditions, it could be hypothesized that the high concentration of hexokinase present in fast growing tumors may serve not only to sustain high glycolysis rates, but also to minimize protein damage that might result in activity decline, compromising energy metabolism.