<Emphasis Type="Italic">OsBIMK1</Emphasis>, a rice MAP kinase gene involved in disease resistance responses

The activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) has been previously implicated in signal transduction during plant responses to pathogen attack as well as to various environmental stresses. We have isolated from rice a new MAPK cDNA, OsBIMK1 ( O ryza s ativa L. BTH-induced MAPK 1), which encodes a 369-amino-acid protein with moderate to high nucleotide sequence similarity to previously reported plant MAPK genes. OsBIMK1 contains all 11 of the MAPK conserved subdomains and the phosphorylation-activation motif, TEY. We analyzed in detail the expression of OsBIMK1 upon treatment with various chemical and biological inducers of resistance responses in rice and in both incompatible and compatible interactions between rice and Magnaporthe grisea. Expression of OsBIMK1 was activated rapidly upon treatment with benzothiadiazole (BTH) as well as with dichloroisonicotinic acid, probenazole, jasmonic acid and its methyl ester, Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae, or wounding. Expression of OsBIMK1 was induced rapidly during the first 36 h after inoculation with M. grisea in BTH-treated rice seedlings and in an incompatible interaction between M. grisea and a blast-resistant rice genotype. BTH treatment induced a systemic activation of OsBIMK1 expression. These results suggest that OsBIMK1 plays an important role in rice disease resistance.     

Silencing of subfamily I of protein phosphatase 2A catalytic subunits results in activation of plant defense responses and localized cell death

The central importance of protein phosphorylation in plant defense responses has been demonstrated by the isolation of several disease-resistance genes that encode protein kinases. In addition, there are many reports of changes in protein phosphorylation accompanying plant responses to pathogens. In contrast, little is known about the role of protein dephosphorylation in regulating plant defenses. We report that expression of the LePP2Ac1 gene, which encodes a catalytic subunit of the heterotrimeric protein phosphatase 2A (PP2Ac), is rapidly induced in resistant tomato leaves upon inoculation with an avirulent strain of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato. By analysis of PP2Ac gene sequences from several plant species, we found that PP2Ac genes cluster into two subfamilies, with LePP2Ac1 belonging to subfamily I. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) in Nicotiana benthamiana was used to suppress expression of genes from subfamily I and not from subfamily II. The PP2Ac-silenced plants had greatly decreased PP2A activity, constitutively expressed pathogenesis-related (PR) genes, and developed localized cell death in stems and leaves. In addition, the plants were more resistant to a virulent strain of P. syringae pv. tabaci and showed an accelerated hypersensitive response (HR) to effector proteins from both P. syringae and the fungal pathogen, Cladosporium fulvum. Thus, catalytic subunits of PP2Ac subfamily I act as negative regulators of plant defense responses likely by de-sensitizing protein phosphorylation cascades.     

马铃薯POTHR-1 cDNA的克隆及晚疫病菌和其他非生物因子诱导表达分析

利用RACE和重叠延伸相结合的方法,从经晚疫病菌接种诱导的马铃薯水平抗性材料叶片中克隆了一个POTHR-I基因(potato Phytophthora infestans-induced hypersensitive response related protein gene)的全长cDNA。序列分析表明,该基因编码225个氨基酸,与烟草harpin诱导蛋白基因hinI有很高的同源性(编码区核苷酸和氨基酸序列分别为83％和81％)。Southern杂交结果显示在马铃薯基因组中有2、3个拷贝。对其诱导表达模式研究表明：晚疫病病原菌接种36h后,该基因表达迅速增加;机械伤害及茉莉酸(JA)处理能够诱导表达;渗透胁迫(NaCI浸泡)能够诱导其微弱表达;但水杨酸(SA)不能诱导表达。该基因可能和病原与寄主互作时寄主产生过敏反应及细胞生理性死亡有关。     

一种转录受病原物接种和机械创伤诱导的水稻WRKY基因的鉴定

WRKY基因编码一类植物特异性转录因子,该类基因目前在双子叶植物中得到了较好的研究.为了研究WRKY基因在单子叶植物中的生物学功能,从水稻(Oryza sativa L.)中分离了OsiWRKY基因的cDNA.该cDNA可编码一个含482个氨基酸残基的蛋白质,该蛋白质预测的一级结构中含有一个WRKY结构域,在该结构域中发现了一个典型的C2-H2锌指结构模块.OsiWRKY预测的一级结构中还可能含有一个细胞核定位因子;利用瞬时表达体系,发现OsiWRKY与GFP绿色荧光蛋白(GFP)的融合蛋白的确定位在水稻细胞核中.在凝胶阻滞实验中,体外表达的OsiWRKY蛋白可特异地结合W-box顺式因子.在水稻白叶枯病原细菌接种实验中,OsiWRKy基因的转录本在抗病品种(IR-26)中的诱导增加强度明显高于感病品种(Jingang 30).在模拟接种的水稻中,OsiWRKy基因的转录本也表现诱导增加,但其诱导增加的起始时间和幅度要显著低于水稻白叶枯病原细菌接种的水稻植株.这些结果表明,OsiWRKY基因可能编码了一个含有WRKY结构域的转录因子,该转录因子可能参与了水稻对病原物接种和机械创伤的反应,但OsiWRKY蛋白调节两种反应的机制可能有所不同.     

马铃薯POTHR-1 cDNA的克隆及晚疫病菌和其他非生物因子诱导表达分析

利RACE和重叠延伸相结合的方法,从经晚疫病菌接种诱导的马铃薯水平抗性材料叶片中克隆了一个POTHE 1基因(potato Phytophthora infestans induced hypersensitive response related protein gene)的全长cDNA.序列分析表明,该基因编码225个氨基酸,与烟草harpin诱导蛋白基因hinl有很高的同源性(编码区核苷酸和氨基酸序列分别为83%和81%).Southern杂交结果显示在马铃薯基因组中有2～3个拷贝.对其诱导表达模式研究表明:晚疫病病原菌接种36 h后,该基因表达迅速增加;机械伤害及茉莉酸(JA)处理能够诱导表达;渗透胁迫(NaCl浸泡)能够诱导其微弱表达;但水杨酸(SA)不能诱导表达.该基因可能和病原与寄主互作时寄主产生过敏反应及细胞生理性死亡有关.     

The lemA gene required for pathogenicity of Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae on bean is a member of a family of two-component regulators.

The lemA gene of the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae is required for disease lesion formation on bean plants. Cosmid clones that complemented a lemA mutant in trans were isolated previously. The lemA gene was localized by subcloning and transposon mutagenesis. The lemA region and flanking DNA were sequenced, and an open reading frame of 2.7 kb was identified. The nucleotide and predicted amino acid sequences of the lemA gene showed sequence similarity to a family of prokaryotic two-component regulatory proteins. Unlike most of the previously described two-component systems, the lemA gene product contained homology to both components in one protein. Mutations introduced upstream and downstream of the lemA gene failed to locate a gene for a second protein component but identified the putative cysM gene of P. syringae pv. syringae. The cysM gene was located upstream of the lemA gene and was divergently transcribed. The lemA gene product was expressed at low levels in P. syringae pv. syringae and appeared to be positively auto-regulated.     

Screening for resistance against Pseudomonas syringae in rice-FOX Arabidopsis lines identified a putative receptor-like cytoplasmic kinase gene that confers resistance to major bacterial and fungal pathogens in Arabidopsis and rice

Approximately 20,000 of the rice-FOX Arabidopsis transgenic lines, which overexpress 13,000 rice full-length cDNAs at random in Arabidopsis, were screened for bacterial disease resistance by dip inoculation with Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (Pst DC3000). The identities of the overexpressed genes were determined in 72 lines that showed consistent resistance after three independent screens. Pst DC3000 resistance was verified for 19 genes by characterizing other independent Arabidopsis lines for the same genes in the original rice-FOX hunting population or obtained by reintroducing the genes into ecotype Columbia by floral dip transformation. Thirteen lines of these 72 selections were also resistant to the fungal pathogen Colletotrichum higginsianum. Eight genes that conferred resistance to Pst DC3000 in Arabidopsis have been introduced into rice for overexpression, and transformants were evaluated for resistance to the rice bacterial pathogen, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. One of the transgenic rice lines was highly resistant to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. Interestingly, this line also showed remarkably high resistance to Magnaporthe grisea, the fungal pathogen causing rice blast, which is the most devastating rice disease in many countries. The causal rice gene, encoding a putative receptor-like cytoplasmic kinase, was therefore designated as BROAD-SPECTRUM RESISTANCE 1. Our results demonstrate the utility of the rice-FOX Arabidopsis lines as a tool for the identification of genes involved in plant defence and suggest the presence of a defence mechanism common between monocots and dicots.     

Nutritional similarity between leaf-associated nonpathogenic bacteria and the pathogen is not predictive of efficacy in biological control of bacterial spot of tomato

It has been demonstrated that for a nonpathogenic, leaf-associated bacterium, effectiveness in the control of bacterial speck of tomato is correlated with the similarity in the nutritional needs of the nonpathogenic bacterium and the pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato. This relationship was investigated further in this study by using the pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria, the causal agent of bacterial spot of tomato, and a collection of nonpathogenic bacteria isolated from tomato foliage. The effects of inoculation of tomato plants with one of 34 nonpathogenic bacteria prior to inoculation with the pathogen X. campestris pv. vesicatoria were quantified by determining (i) the reduction in disease severity (number of lesions per square centimeter) in greenhouse assays and (ii) the reduction in leaf surface pathogen population size (log(10) of the number of CFU per leaflet) in growth chamber assays. Nutritional similarity between the nonpathogenic bacteria and X. campestris pv. vesicatoria was quantified by using either niche overlap indices (NOI) or relatedness in cluster analyses based upon in vitro utilization of carbon or nitrogen sources reported to be present in tomato tissues or in Biolog GN plates. In contrast to studies with P. syringae pv. tomato, nutritional similarity between the nonpathogenic bacteria and the pathogen X. campestris pv. vesicatoria was not correlated with reductions in disease severity. Nutritional similarity was also not correlated with reductions in pathogen population size. Further, the percentage of reduction in leaf surface pathogen population size was not correlated with the percentage of reduction in disease severity, suggesting that the epiphytic population size of X. campestris pv. vesicatoria is not related to disease severity and that X. campestris pv. vesicatoria exhibits behavior in the phyllosphere prior to lesion formation that is different from that of P. syringae pv. tomato.     

OsHT, a Rice Gene Encoding for a Plasma-Membrane Localized Histidine Transporter

Using a degenerative probe designed according to the most conservative region of a known Lys- and His-specific amino acid transporter (LHT1) from Arabidopsis, we isolated a full-length cDNA named OsHT (histidine transporter of Oryza sativa L.) by screening the rice cDNA library. The cDNA is 1.3kb in length and the open reading frame encodes for a 441 amino acid protein with a calculated molecular mass of 49 kDa. Multiple sequence alignments showed that OsHT shares a high degree of sequence conservation at the deduced amino acid level with the Arabidopsis LHT1 and six putative lysine and histidine transporters. Computational analysis indicated that OsHT is an integral membrane protein with 11 putative transmembrane helices. This was confirmed by the transient expression assay because the OsHT-GFP fusion protein was, indeed, localized mainly in the plasma membrane of onion epidermal cells. Functional complementation experiments demonstrated that OsHT was able to work as a histidine transporter in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, suggesting that OsHT is a gene that encodes for a histidine transporter from rice.This is the first time that an LHT-type amino acid transporter gene has been cloned from higher plants other than A rabidopsis.