拟南芥WUSCHEL基因在转基因烟草中的超表达

WUSCHEL(WUS)是近年报道的一个重要的干细胞调控基因.本实验用RT-PCR技术从拟南芥(Arabidopsisthaliana L.)中克隆到其cDNA并构建了双增强的CaMV3 5S启动子驱动的超表达载体pBKB.借助农杆菌(Agrobacterium tumefaciens)介导转化烟草(Nicotiana tabacum L.),获得转基因植株.PCR和RT-PCR鉴定分别证明,外源WUS已整合到烟草基因组并已表达.转基因烟草地上部分出现大量异位增生的突起,扫描电镜观察表明:突起部分的细胞与分生组织细胞相似,部分突起能够发育为叶芽、花芽,表明WUS超表达引起烟草细胞异常分裂并在已分化组织中重新启动了器官形成.茎尖和花的内两轮器官没有上述变化.结合拟南芥的有关研究,推测烟草中可能也存在类似拟南芥WUS和其阻抑蛋白CLAVATA3、AGAMOUS间的反馈调节机制.转基因烟草叶发育表型变化明显,与生长素极性运输受抑制引起的表型相似,因此,作为生长点调控基因,WUS可能通过生长素对叶的发育进行调控.本研究为WUS基因的功能分析和有关生物技术应用提供了有意义的信息.     

拟南芥WUSCHEL蛋白的原核表达、亲和纯化和多克隆抗体制备

本研究构建了带有His标签的拟南芥(Arabidopsis thaliana)WUSCHEL基因原核表达载体pET-31b(+)-WUS-His(6),优化了大肠杆菌(Escherichia coli)诱导表达体系,将亲和层析纯化后的WUS融合蛋白,经尿素梯度透析复性溶解,免疫新西兰大白兔,成功制备了WUS蛋白多克隆抗体。通过琼脂糖免疫扩散检测确定了抗血清效价和特异性,并以斑点杂交和Western blotting检验其灵敏性。结果表明,成功构建的拟南芥WUS原核表达载体,在E.coli中以0.5mmol/L异丙基-β-D-硫代半乳糖苷(IPTG)28°C诱导表达10h后,融合蛋白得到高水平表达,亲和纯化后目标蛋白纯度达96%以上,所制备的多克隆抗体具有较高特异性和灵敏性,可用来检测纳克级蛋白抗原。     

拟南芥（Arabidopsis thaliana）体细胞胚胎发生体系中的体细胞类减数分裂研究

在拟南芥生态型LandsbergErecta体细胞胚胎发生体系的胚性愈伤组织中观察到2种类型的体细胞减数分裂现象。一种是体细胞染色体减数分组,其中,处于前期或中期的细胞染色体分为2个或2个以上的组。其共同特点是,染色体直接分开,未观察到纺锤体,从染色体的形态也看不出纺锤体的作用。染色体减数分组较多发生于多倍体细胞中。另一种类型是体细胞减数分裂,这种类型类似于大小孢子发生过程的减数分裂,如第一次分裂前期也有染色体的联会和配对。在脱分化培养基上的胚性愈伤组织中,单倍体细胞约占3%,四倍体细胞约占4%。经体细胞类减数分裂产生的细胞都发生染色体重组。     

Somatic embryogenesis in cultured immature zygotic embryos and leaf protoplasts of Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes

Immature zygotic embryos of six ecotypes (Nd-0, Ler, C24, Col-0, Nossen, Ws-2) of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. were cultured in vitro. The same ecotypes, except Nossen, were used for studies on leaf protoplast culture. Experimental conditions for the induction of somatic embryos were established in both culture systems. In the case of immature zygotic embryos, the parameters investigated were the influence of developmental stage of the explant, the ecotypes used, and various concentrations and combinations of growth regulatory substances (phytohormones). In the ecotype Ler, structures were discovered which were very similar to those found in the early stages of zygotic embryogenesis: globular structures at the end of a suspensor-like single file of cells were frequently observed. In the case of leaf protoplasts, high efficiencies of colony formation and plant regeneration occurred in Ws-2 and C24. A novel type of cell division pattern was found in Col-0 and C24, again highly reminiscent of the early division patterns in zygotic embryos. Similarities and differences between zygotic and somatic embryogenesis are discussed. Received: 2 August 1996 / Accepted: 4 February 1997     

化学诱导激活型拟南芥突变体库的构建及分析

利用化学诱导激活XVE（LexA-VP16-ER）系统构建了一个包含40000余个独立转化株系的拟南芥突变体库,并对其中的18000余个株系进行了初步的遗传学和表型分析鉴定。卡那霉素抗性分离比表明,51．6％的株系为单位点插入株系,T-DNA插入的平均拷贝数为每株系1．38个。部分T1代和T2代植株表现出了可见的形态变异,包括下胚轴长度、根长度、植株大小和颜色、叶子颜色和形态、开花时间、种皮颜色及结实情况等对数个代表性突变株系表型及T—DNA插入位点侧翼序列进行了分析,结果表明突变体的表型是由于T—DNA的插入造成的,而且这些突变体中包括前人发现的AP2和AGAMOUS的等位基因。由于T-DNA标记或相邻的基因可被XVE系统诱导性的激活,或被T-DNA破坏导致功能缺失,该突变体库可以用于大规模筛选鉴定功能缺失性和功能获得性突变体。     

The essential gene EMB1611 maintains shoot apical meristem function during Arabidopsis development

The Arabidopsis thaliana genome contains hundreds of genes essential for seed development. Because null mutations in these genes cause embryo lethality, their specific molecular and developmental functions are largely unknown. Here, we identify a role for EMB1611/MEE22 , an essential gene in Arabidopsis, in shoot apical meristem maintenance. EMB1611 encodes a large, novel protein with N-terminal coiled-coil regions and two putative transmembrane domains. We show that the partial loss-of-function emb1611-2 mutation causes a range of pleiotropic developmental phenotypes, most dramatically a progressive loss of shoot apical meristem function that causes premature meristem termination. emb1611-2 plants display disorganization of the shoot meristem cell layers early in development, and an associated stem cell fate change to an organogenic identity. Genetic and molecular analysis indicates that EMB1611 is required for maintenance of the CLV-WUS stem cell regulatory pathway in the shoot meristem, but also has WUS -independent activity. In addition, emb1611-2 plants have reduced shoot and root growth, and their rosette leaves form trichomes with extra branches, a defect we associate with an increase in endoreduplication. Our data indicate that EMB1611 functions to maintain cells, particularly those in the shoot meristem, roots and developing rosette leaves, in a proliferative or uncommitted state.     

Overexpression of an ADP-ribose pyrophosphatase, AtNUDX2, confers enhanced tolerance to oxidative stress in Arabidopsis plants

Mutant pqr-216 from an Arabidopsis activation-tagged line showed a phenotype of increased tolerance to oxidative stress after treatment with 3 μ m paraquat (PQ). Based on the phenotype of transgenic plants overexpressing the genes flanking the T-DNA insert, it was clear that enhanced expression of a Nudix (nucleoside diphosphates linked to some moiety X) hydrolase gene, AtNUDX2 (At5g47650), was responsible for the tolerance. It has been reported that the AtNUDX2 protein has pyrophosphatase activities towards both ADP-ribose and NADH ( Ogawa et al ., 2005 ). Interestingly, the pyrophosphatase activity toward ADP-ribose, but not NADH, was increased in pqr-216 and Pro _35S :AtNUDX2 plants compared with control plants. The amount of free ADP-ribose was lower in the Pro _35S :AtNUDX2 plants, while the level of NADH was similar to those in control plants under both normal conditions and oxidative stress. Depletion of NAD⁺ and ATP resulting from activation of poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation under oxidative stress was observed in the control Arabidopsis plants. Such alterations in the levels of these molecules were significantly suppressed in the Pro _35S :AtNUDX2 plants. The results indicate that overexpression of AtNUDX2 , encoding ADP-ribose pyrophosphatase, confers enhanced tolerance of oxidative stress on Arabidopsis plants, resulting from maintenance of NAD⁺ and ATP levels by nucleotide recycling from free ADP-ribose molecules under stress conditions.     

Stress-induced somatic embryogenesis in vegetative tissues of Arabidopsis thaliana

Somatic embryogenesis is an obvious experimental evidence of totipotency, and is used as a model system for studying the mechanisms of de-differentiation and re-differentiation of plant cells. Although Arabidopsis is widely used as a model plant for genetic and molecular biological studies, there is no available tissue culture system for inducing somatic embryogenesis from somatic cells in this plant. We established a new tissue culture system using stress treatment to induce somatic embryogenesis in Arabidopsis. In this system, stress treatment induced formation of somatic embryos from shoot-apical-tip and floral-bud explants. The somatic embryos grew into young plantlets with normal morphology, including cotyledons, hypocotyls, and roots, and some embryo-specific genes (ABI3 and FUS3) were expressed in these embryos. Several stresses (osmotic, heavy metal ion, and dehydration stress) induced somatic embryogenesis, but the optimum stress treatment differed between different stressors. When we used mannitol to cause osmotic stress, the optimal conditions for somatic embryogenesis were 6-9 h of culture on solid B5 medium containing 0.7 m mannitol, after which the explants were transferred to B5 medium containing 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D, 4.5 microm), but no mannitol. Using this tissue culture system, we induced somatic embryogenesis in three major ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana-Ws, Col, and Ler.     

A recombineering-based gene tagging system for Arabidopsis

One of the most information-rich aspects of gene functional studies is characterization of gene expression profiles at cellular resolution, and subcellular localization of the corresponding proteins. These studies require visualization of the endogenous gene products using specific antibodies, or, more commonly, generation of whole-gene translational fusions with a reporter gene such as a fluorescent protein. To facilitate the generation of such translational fusions and to ensure that all cis-regulatory sequences are included, we have used a bacterial homologous recombination system (recombineering) to insert fluorescent protein tags into genes of interest harbored by transformation-competent bacterial artificial chromosomes (TACs). This approach has several advantages compared to other classical strategies. First, the researcher does not have to guess what the regulatory sequences of a gene are, as tens of thousands of base pairs flanking the gene of interest can be included in the construct. Second, because the genes of interest are not amplified by PCR, there are practically no limits to the size of a gene that can be tagged. Third, there are no restrictions on the location in which the fluorescent protein can be inserted, as the position is determined by sequence homology with the recombination primers. Finally, all of the required strains and TAC clones are publically available, and the experimental procedures described here are simple and robust. Thus, we suggest that recombineering-based gene tagging should be the gold standard for gene expression studies in Arabidopsis.     

Auxin-induced WUS expression is essential for embryonic stem cell renewal during somatic embryogenesis in Arabidopsis

Somatic embryogenesis requires auxin and establishment of the shoot apical meristem (SAM). WUSCHEL ( WUS ) is critical for stem cell fate determination in the SAM of higher plants. However, regulation of WUS expression by auxin during somatic embryogenesis is poorly understood. Here, we show that expression of several regulatory genes important in zygotic embryogenesis were up-regulated during somatic embryogenesis of Arabidopsis. Interestingly, WUS expression was induced within the embryonic callus at a time when somatic embryos could not be identified morphologically or molecularly. Correct WUS expression, regulated by a defined critical level of exogenous auxin, is essential for somatic embryo induction. Furthermore, it was found that auxin gradients were established in specific regions that could then give rise to somatic embryos. The establishment of auxin gradients was correlated with the induced WUS expression. Moreover, the auxin gradients appear to activate PIN1 polar localization within the embryonic callus. Polarized PIN1 is probably responsible for the observed polar auxin transport and auxin accumulation in the SAM and somatic embryo. Suppression of WUS and PIN1 indicated that both genes are necessary for embryo induction through their regulation of downstream gene expression. Our results reveal that establishment of auxin gradients and PIN1-mediated polar auxin transport are essential for WUS induction and somatic embryogenesis. This study sheds new light on how auxin regulates stem cell formation during somatic embryogenesis.     

Sequence database of 1172 T-DNA insertion sites in Arabidopsis activation-tagging lines that showed phenotypes in T1 generation

Plant genomic resources harbouring gain-of-function mutations remain rare, even though this type of mutation is believed to be one of the most useful for elucidating the function of unknown genes that have redundant partners in the genome. An activation-tagging T-DNA was introduced into the genome of Arabidopsis creating 55,431 independent transformed lines. Of these T1 lines, 1,262 showed phenotypes different from those of wild-type plants. We called these lines 'AT1Ps' (activation T1 putants). The phenotypes observed include abnormalities in morphology, growth rate, plant colour, flowering time and fertility. Similar phenotypes re-appeared either in dominant or semi-dominant fashion in 17% of 177 AT2P plants tested. Plasmid rescue or an adaptor-PCR method was used to identify 1172 independent genomic loci of T-DNA integration sites in the AT1P plants. Mapping of the integration sites revealed that the chromosomal distribution of these sites is similar to that observed in conventional T-DNA knock-out lines, except that the intragenic type of integration is slightly lower (27%) in the AT1P plants compared to that observed in other random knock-out populations (30-35%). Ten AT2P lines that showed dominant phenotypes were chosen to monitor expression levels of genes adjacent to the T-DNA integration sites by RT-PCR. Activation was observed in 7 out of 17 of the adjacent genes detected. Genes located up to 8.2 kb away from the enhancer sequence were activated. One of the seven activated genes was located close to the left-border sequence of the T-DNA, having an estimated distance of 5.7 kb from the enhancer. Surprisingly, one gene, the first ATG of which is located 12 kb away from the enhancer, showed reduced mRNA accumulation in the tagged line. Application of the database generated to Arabidopsis functional genomics research is discussed. The sequence database of the 1172 loci from the AT1P plants is available (http://pfgweb.gsc.riken.go.jp/index.html).