ABA Inducible Rice Protein Phosphatase 2C Confers ABA Insensitivity and Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Arabidopsis

Arabidopsis PP2C belonging to group A have been extensively worked out and known to negatively regulate ABA signaling. However, rice (Oryza sativa) orthologs of Arabidopsis group A PP2C are scarcely characterized functionally. We have identified a group A PP2C from rice (OsPP108), which is highly inducible under ABA, salt and drought stresses and localized predominantly in the nucleus. Genetic analysis revealed that Arabidopsis plants overexpressing OsPP108 are highly insensitive to ABA and tolerant to high salt and mannitol stresses during seed germination, root growth and overall seedling growth. At adult stage, OsPP108 overexpression leads to high tolerance to salt, mannitol and drought stresses with far better physiological parameters such as water loss, fresh weight, chlorophyll content and photosynthetic potential (Fv/Fm) in transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Expression profile of various stress marker genes in OsPP108 overexpressing plants revealed interplay of ABA dependent and independent pathway for abiotic stress tolerance. Overall, this study has identified a potential rice group A PP2C, which regulates ABA signaling negatively and abiotic stress signaling positively. Transgenic rice plants overexpressing this gene might provide an answer to the problem of low crop yield and productivity during adverse environmental conditions.     

AtEXP2 Is Involved in Seed Germination and Abiotic Stress Response in Arabidopsis

Expansins are cell wall proteins that promote cell wall loosening by inducing pH-dependent cell wall extension and stress relaxation. Expansins are required in a series of physiological developmental processes in higher plants such as seed germination. Here we identified an Arabidopsis expansin gene AtEXPA2 that is exclusively expressed in germinating seeds and the mutant shows delayed germination, suggesting that AtEXP2 is involved in controlling seed germination. Exogenous GA application increased the expression level of AtEXP2 during seed germination, while ABA application had no effect on AtEXP2 expression. Furthermore, the analysis of DELLA mutants show that RGL1, RGL2, RGA, GAI are all involved in repressing AtEXP2 expression, and RGL1 plays the most dominant role in controlling AtEXP2 expression. In stress response, exp2 mutant shows higher sensitivity than wild type in seed germination, while overexpression lines of AtEXP2 are less sensitive to salt stress and osmotic stress, exhibiting enhanced tolerance to stress treatment. Collectively, our results suggest that AtEXP2 is involved in the GA-mediated seed germination and confers salt stress and osmotic stress tolerance in Arabidopsis.     

A Putative PP2C-Encoding Gene Negatively Regulates ABA Signaling in Populus euphratica

A PP2C homolog gene was cloned from the drought-treated cDNA library of Populus euphratica. Multiple sequence alignment analysis suggested that the gene is a potential ortholog of HAB1. The expression of this HAB1 ortholog (PeHAB1) was markedly induced by drought and moderately induced by ABA. To characterize its function in ABA signaling, we generated transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants overexpressing this gene. Transgenic lines exhibited reduced responses to exogenous ABA and reduced tolerance to drought compared to wide-type lines. Yeast two-hybrid analyses indicated that PeHAB1 could interact with the ABA receptor PYL4 in an ABA-independent manner. Taken together; these results indicated that PeHAB1 is a new negative regulator of ABA responses in poplar.     

Endophytic fungi in rose (Rosa hybrida) in Bogota, Colombia

We have investigated the presence of endophytic fungi associated with rose plants (Rosa hybrida) in Colombia. Endophytic fungi were isolated from healthy leaves of ten ornamental roses plants from gardens cultured in malt extract, peptone, yeast extract agar plates (MPY). We sampled 560 leaves fragments, 56 per sample. Endophytic fungi comprised 92 isolates (16.4%); of these isolates, 41 were classified as sterile mycelium (without reproductive structures that allowed their identification), 31 isolates were identified to genus or to species, and 20 isolates could not be identified at all. The identified endophytic fungi were as follow: Nigrospora oryzae, Aureobasidium spp, Acremonium spp. The fungi Nodulisporium sp, Gliocladium virens, Cladosporium sp, Alternaria sp, Phoma sp and Chaetomium globosum were represented by one isolate each. Since the endophytic fungi are known for their capacity to produce metabolites with biological activity, it is possible that the microorganisms found in this study have potential as antagonist of rose pathogens.     

RcRR1, a Rosa canina Type-A Response Regulator Gene,Is Involved in Cytokinin-Modulated Rhizoid Organogenesis

In vitro, a new protocol of plant regeneration in rose was achieved via protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) induced from the root-like organs named rhizoids that developed from leaf explants. The development of rhizoids is a critical stage for efficient regeneration, which is triggered by exogenous auxin. However, the role of cytokinin in the control of organogenesis in rose is as yet uncharacterized. The aim of this study was to elucidate the molecular mechanism of cytokinin-modulated rhizoid formation in Rosa canina. Here, we found that cytokinin is a key regulator in the formation of rhizoids. Treatment with cytokinin reduced callus activity and significantly inhibited rhizoid formation in Rosa canina. We further isolated the full-length cDNA of a type-A response regulator gene of cytokinin signaling, RcRR1, from which the deduced amino acid sequence contained the conserved DDK motif. Gene expression analysis revealed that RcRR1 was differentially expressed during rhizoid formation and its expression level was rapidly up-regulated by cytokinin. In addition, the functionality of RcRR1 was tested in Arabidopsis. RcRR1 was found to be localized to the nucleus in GFP-RcRR1 transgenic plants and overexpression of RcRR1 resulted in increased primary root length and lateral root density. More importantly, RcRR1 overexpression transgenic plants also showed reduced sensitivity to cytokinin during root growth; auxin distribution and the expression of auxin efflux carriers PIN genes were altered in RcRR1 overexpression plants. Taken together, these results demonstrate that RcRR1 is a functional type-A response regulator which is involved in cytokinin-regulated rhizoid formation in Rosa canina.     

紫花苜蓿逆境响应转录因子MsNAC3基因克隆及表达分析

该研究利用RT-PCR和RACE技术,克隆了1个紫花苜蓿NAC类转录因子新基因,命名为MsNAC3(GenBank登录号为KC491186)。多重比对发现,MsNAC3蛋白与蒺藜苜蓿MtNAC和鹰嘴豆CarNAC5蛋白的同源性较高,其N端含有典型的NAC保守结构域,C端高度变异;进化树聚类分析表明,MsNAC3与紫花苜蓿MsNAC2和油菜BnNAC3亲缘关系较近,属于NAC蛋白的ATAF亚家族。洋葱亚细胞定位分析表明,MsNAC3定位于细胞核。转录水平表达分析表明,MsNAC3受盐、干旱、ABA和冷害胁迫诱导而显著升高,并且MsNAC3在根中的表达量要明显高于叶中。研究表明,MsNAC3基因可能作为一个正向调控因子在逆境胁迫信号转导过程中发挥重要作用。