Functional Identification of Apple MdGLK1 Which Regulates Chlorophyll Biosynthesis in Arabidopsis

Journal of Plant Growth Regulation - Apple is one of the most prominent fleshy fruits in the world, and photosynthesis is the main factor that influences the intrinsic quality of the fruit....     

拟南芥中两个可能的SDD1新等位基因的鉴定与分析

SDD1是气孔发育过程中的关键调控基因,编码一个类枯草杆菌（Bacillus subtilis）蛋白酶的丝氨酸蛋白酶。从EMS诱变的拟南芥（Arabidopsis thaliana）中筛选到2株类似sdd1-1的气孔密度突变体,即e281和g204。其气孔密度和指数均比野生型增加约1.5倍,气孔成簇。遗传分析和基因测序证实它们是2个不同的SDD1新等位基因,其突变分别导致了底物结合位点N区域和催化三联体之一--S区域的氨基酸变化,分别为S变成T及S变为F。形态学和生理学研究表明,SDD1基因不同位点发生突变可导致不同的生物学效应;而且SDD1等位基因间存在拮抗作用,其可能属于基因转应作用中的负效应。     

拟南芥中两个可能的SDD1新等位基因的鉴定与分析

SDD1是气孔发育过程中的关键调控基因, 编码一个类枯草杆菌(Bacillus subtilis)蛋白酶的丝氨酸蛋白酶。从EMS诱变的拟南芥(Arabidopsis thaliana)中筛选到2株类似sdd1-1的气孔密度突变体, 即e281和g204。其气孔密度和指数均比野生型增加约1.5倍, 气孔成簇。遗传分析和基因测序证实它们是2个不同的SDD1新等位基因, 其突变分别导致了底物结合位点N区域和催化三联体之一——S区域的氨基酸变化, 分别为S变成T及S变为F。形态学和生理学研究表明, SDD1基因不同位点发生突变可导致不同的生物学效应; 而且SDD1等位基因间存在拮抗作用, 其可能属于基因转应作用中的负效应。     

Genetic Dissection of Peroxisome-Associated Matrix Protein Degradation in Arabidopsis thaliana

Peroxisomes are organelles that sequester certain metabolic pathways; many of these pathways generate H₂O₂, which can damage proteins. However, little is known about how damaged or obsolete peroxisomal proteins are degraded. We exploit developmentally timed peroxisomal content remodeling in Arabidopsis thaliana to elucidate peroxisome-associated protein degradation. Isocitrate lyase (ICL) is a peroxisomal glyoxylate cycle enzyme necessary for early seedling development. A few days after germination, photosynthesis begins and ICL is degraded. We previously found that ICL is stabilized when a peroxisome-associated ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme and its membrane anchor are both mutated, suggesting that matrix proteins might exit the peroxisome for ubiquitin-dependent cytosolic degradation. To identify additional components needed for peroxisome-associated matrix protein degradation, we mutagenized a line expressing GFP–ICL, which is degraded similarly to endogenous ICL, and identified persistent GFP-ICLfluorescence (pfl) mutants. We found three pfl mutants that were defective in PEROXIN14 (PEX14/At5g62810), which encodes a peroxisomal membrane protein that assists in importing proteins into the peroxisome matrix, indicating that proteins must enter the peroxisome for efficient degradation. One pfl mutant was missing the peroxisomal 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase encoded by the PEROXISOME DEFECTIVE1 (PED1/At2g33150) gene, suggesting that peroxisomal metabolism influences the rate of matrix protein degradation. Finally, one pfl mutant that displayed normal matrix protein import carried a novel lesion in PEROXIN6 (PEX6/At1g03000), which encodes a peroxisome-tethered ATPase that is involved in recycling matrix protein receptors back to the cytosol. The isolation of pex6-2 as a pfl mutant supports the hypothesis that matrix proteins can exit the peroxisome for cytosolic degradation.     

小麦叶绿素酶基因家族的鉴定及其叶绿素降解过程中的功能预测

叶绿素酶(CLH)是植物叶绿素降解过程中的关键酶,在植物生长发育过程中发挥着重要作用.为了解小麦CLH基因家族成员在叶绿素降解过程中的功能差异,本试验采用生物信息学分析方法和实时荧光定量PCR(qRT-PCR)技术对小麦CLH基因家族进行鉴定和初步功能分析,结果表明:小麦中共鉴定到13个CLH成员(TaCLH1～TaC...     

Arabidopsis STAY-GREEN2 Is a Negative Regulator of Chlorophyll Degradation during Leaf Senescence

Chlorophyll （Chl） degradation causes leaf yellowing during senescence or under stress conditions. For Chl breakdown, STAY-GREEN1 （SGR1） interacts with Chl catabolic enzymes （CCEs） and light-harvesting complex II （LHCII） at the thylakoid membrane, possibly to allow metabolic channeling of potentially phototoxic Chl breakdown intermediates. Among these Chl catabolic components, SGR1 acts as a key regulator of leaf yellowing. In addition to SGR1 （At4g22920）, the Arabidopsis thaliana genome contains an additional homolog, SGR2 （At4g11910）, whose biological function remains elusive. Under senescence-inducing conditions, SGR2 expression is highly up-regulated, similarly to SGR1 expression. Here we show that SGR2 function counteracts SGR1 activity in leaf Chl degradation; SGR2-overexpressing plants stayed green and the sgr2-1 knockout mutant exhibited early leaf yellowing under age-, dark-, and stress-induced senescence conditions. Like SGR1, SGR2 interacted with LHCII but, in contrast to SGR1, SGR2 interactions with CCEs were very limited. Furthermore, SGR1 and SGR2 formed homo- or heterodimers, strongly suggesting a role for SGR2 in negatively regulat- ing Chl degradation by possibly interfering with the proposed CCE-recruiting function of SGR1. Our data indicate an antagonistic evolution of the functions of SGR1 and SGR2 in Arabidopsis to balance Chl catabolism in chloroplasts with the dismantling and remobilizing of other cellular components in senescing leaf cells.     

Participation of Chlorophyll b Reductase in the Initial Step of the Degradation of Light-harvesting Chlorophyll a/b-Protein Complexes in Arabidopsis

The light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-protein complex of photosystem II (LHCII) is the most abundant membrane protein in green plants, and its degradation is a crucial process for the acclimation to high light conditions and for the recovery of nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) during senescence. However, the molecular mechanism of LHCII degradation is largely unknown. Here, we report that chlorophyll b reductase, which catalyzes the first step of chlorophyll b degradation, plays a central role in LHCII degradation. When the genes for chlorophyll b reductases NOL and NYC1 were disrupted in Arabidopsis thaliana, chlorophyll b and LHCII were not degraded during senescence, whereas other pigment complexes completely disappeared. When purified trimeric LHCII was incubated with recombinant chlorophyll b reductase (NOL), expressed in Escherichia coli, the chlorophyll b in LHCII was converted to 7-hydroxymethyl chlorophyll a. Accompanying this conversion, chlorophylls were released from LHCII apoproteins until all the chlorophyll molecules in LHCII dissociated from the complexes. Chlorophyll-depleted LHCII apoproteins did not dissociate into monomeric forms but remained in the trimeric form. Based on these results, we propose the novel hypothesis that chlorophyll b reductase catalyzes the initial step of LHCII degradation, and that trimeric LHCII is a substrate of LHCII degradation.     

Chlorophyll Degradation: The Tocopherol Biosynthesis-Related Phytol Hydrolase in Arabidopsis Seeds Is Still Missing

Phytyl diphosphate (PDP) is the prenyl precursor for tocopherol biosynthesis. Based on recent genetic evidence, PDP is supplied to the tocopherol biosynthetic pathway primarily by chlorophyll degradation and sequential phytol phosphorylation. Three enzymes of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) are known to be capable of removing the phytol chain from chlorophyll in vitro: chlorophyllase1 (CLH1), CLH2, and pheophytin pheophorbide hydrolase (PPH), which specifically hydrolyzes pheophytin. While PPH, but not chlorophyllases, is required for in vivo chlorophyll breakdown during Arabidopsis leaf senescence, little is known about the involvement of these phytol-releasing enzymes in tocopherol biosynthesis. To explore the origin of PDP for tocopherol synthesis, seed tocopherol concentrations were determined in Arabidopsis lines engineered for seed-specific overexpression of PPH and in single and multiple mutants in the three genes encoding known dephytylating enzymes. Except for modestly increasing tocopherol content observed in the PPH overexpressor, none of the remaining lines exhibited significantly reduced tocopherol concentrations, suggesting that the known chlorophyll-derived phytol-releasing enzymes do not play major roles in tocopherol biosynthesis. Tocopherol content of seeds from double mutants in NONYELLOWING1 (NYE1) and NYE2, regulators of chlorophyll degradation, had modest reduction compared with wild-type seeds, although mature seeds of the double mutant retained significantly higher chlorophyll levels. These findings suggest that NYEs may play limited roles in regulating an unknown tocopherol biosynthesis-related phytol hydrolase. Meanwhile, seeds of wild-type over-expressing NYE1 had lower tocopherol levels, suggesting that phytol derived from NYE1-dependent chlorophyll degradation probably doesn’t enter tocopherol biosynthesis. Potential routes of chlorophyll degradation are discussed in relation to tocopherol biosynthesis.Vitamin E tocochromanols are lipidic antioxidants found in photosynthetic organisms that exist as two alternate classes, tocopherols and tocotrienols, which differ in the degree of saturation of the hydrophobic C20 prenyl side chain classes. Among these two classes, four forms occur that differ in methylation of the hydrophilic tocochromanol head group (Sattler et al., 2004). The initial step of tocopherol biosynthesis is the condensation of the aromatic head group precursor homogentisate and the prenyl tail precursor phytyl diphosphate (PDP). This reaction is catalyzed by a plastid-localized enzyme, homogentisate PDP transferase (HPT; Soll et al., 1980; Collakova and DellaPenna, 2001). PDP for tocopherol biosynthesis is either provided through direct reduction of geranylgeranyl diphosphate (Keller et al., 1998) or from chlorophyll-bound phytol through chlorophyll hydrolysis and subsequent conversion of free phytol into PDP by two consecutive kinase reactions (Fig. 1; Rise et al., 1989; Goffman et al., 1999; Matile et al., 1999; Kräutler, 2002; Hörtensteiner, 2006). The first of these phosphorylation steps was shown to be catalyzed by vitamin E pathway5 (VTE5; Valentin et al., 2006).Open in a separate windowFigure 1.The substrate PDP directing toward tocopherol biosynthesis is primarily derived from chlorophyll degradation. Two phytol-releasing activities are known, i.e. CLH catalyzing release from chlorophyll and PPH dephytylating pheophytin. Phytol is then converted to PDP by sequential kinase reactions catalyzed by VTE5 and a second, unknown kinase. Condensation of PDP and homogentisate by HPT marks the initial reaction of tocopherol biosynthesis. phy, Phytyl. [See online article for color version of this figure.]Seeds of the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) vte5 mutant have only about 20% of wild-type concentrations of vitamin E, while containing 3-fold more free phytol compared with seeds of wild-type plants (Valentin et al., 2006). In addition, it has been shown that tocopherol accumulation in Brassica napus seeds correlates with chlorophyll breakdown during seed development (Valentin et al., 2006). Therefore, it was concluded that in Arabidopsis, the 80% of PDP that is used for VTE5-dependent tocopherol biosynthesis in seeds arises from free phytol released during chlorophyll degradation. Chlorophyll degradation is an important catabolic process that is catalyzed by a multistep pathway and occurs during leaf senescence and fruit ripening. An early reaction of the chlorophyll degradation pathway is dephytylation. The true identity of the enzyme(s) associated with phytol release has only recently been revealed. It was long believed that chlorophyllase (CLH) is responsible for phytyl hydrolysis, yielding chlorophyllide and free phytol (Heaton and Marangoni, 1996; Takamiya et al., 2000; Hörtensteiner, 2006). However, analysis of the two CLHs in Arabidopsis, AtCLH1 and AtCLH2 (Tsuchiya et al., 1999; Takamiya et al., 2000), indicated that the AtCLH isoforms are neither chloroplast localized nor essential for senescence-related chlorophyll breakdown (Schenk et al., 2007). These findings are consistent with the observation that not all molecularly identified CLHs contain a predicted chloroplast transit peptide (Jacob-Wilk et al., 1999; Tsuchiya et al., 1999). As a consequence, subcellular compartments distinct from plastids were considered to be additional sites of chlorophyll degradation (Takamiya et al., 2000). By contrast, results obtained from Citrus spp. suggested that CLH functions as a rate-limiting enzyme in chlorophyll catabolism within the chloroplast and is controlled by posttranslational regulation (Harpaz-Saad et al., 2007; Azoulay Shemer et al., 2008). Additionally, work in Arabidopsis indicated that clh2 mutants showed a slight delay in chlorophyll degradation compared with clh1 and wild-type plants (Schenk et al., 2007).More recently, a novel plastid-localized enzyme, pheophytin pheophorbide hydrolase (PPH), was shown to be essential for chlorophyll breakdown during leaf senescence in Arabidopsis. PPH catalyzes the dephytylation of pheophytin rather than chlorophyll, resulting in pheophorbide and free phytol as the products (Schelbert et al., 2009). pph mutants are unable to degrade chlorophyll during senescence and therefore exhibit a stay-green phenotype in leaves. Altogether, these data reflect the complexity of the process of chlorophyll dephytylation and raise the question whether any of these activities may be related to tocopherol biosynthesis.Recently, Gregor Mendel’s green cotyledon gene stay-green (SGR), encoding a chloroplast-localized protein, was shown to be required for the initiation of chlorophyll breakdown (Armstead et al., 2007; Sato et al., 2007). Like in many plant species (Hörtensteiner, 2009), NON-YELLOWING1 (NYE1; also named SGR1), the Arabidopsis homolog of SGR, plays an important positive regulatory role in chlorophyll degradation during senescence, because NYE1 overexpression resulted in either pale-yellow leaves or even albino seedlings, while nye1 mutants retain chlorophyll during senescence (Ren et al., 2007). In addition, the second isoform of NYE in Arabidopsis, NYE2 (also named SGR2), is a negative regulator of chlorophyll degradation in senescent leaves (Sakuraba et al., 2014). By contrast, both enzymes positively contribute to chlorophyll breakdown during seed maturation (Delmas et al., 2013). NYE1 and NYE2 were shown to interact at light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) with other chlorophyll catabolic enzymes, including PPH. This suggests that SGRs might function as scaffold proteins in the formation of a catabolic multienzyme complex regulating chlorophyll degradation (Sakuraba et al., 2012, 2014). Whether NYE1 and NYE2 may also affect CLH function remains unclear, but their role as a key regulators for chlorophyll degradation raises the question whether NYEs may also play a role in tocopherol biosynthesis.Here, by employing Arabidopsis transferred DNA (T-DNA) insertion or nonsense mutants that are defective in known chlorophyll degradation-associated genes, and by PPH or NYE1 overexpression, we provide genetic and physiological evidence that neither CLHs nor PPH plays a major role in tocopherol biosynthesis in Arabidopsis seeds.     

Remobilization of Phytol from Chlorophyll Degradation Is Essential for Tocopherol Synthesis and Growth of Arabidopsis

Phytol from chlorophyll degradation can be phosphorylated to phytyl-phosphate and phytyl-diphosphate, the substrate for tocopherol (vitamin E) synthesis. A candidate for the phytyl-phosphate kinase from Arabidopsis thaliana (At1g78620) was identified via a phylogeny-based approach. This gene was designated VITAMIN E DEFICIENT6 (VTE6) because the leaves of the Arabidopsis vte6 mutants are tocopherol deficient. The vte6 mutant plants are incapable of photoautotrophic growth. Phytol and phytyl-phosphate accumulate, and the phytyl-diphosphate content is strongly decreased in vte6 leaves. Phytol feeding and enzyme assays with Arabidopsis and recombinant Escherichia coli cells demonstrated that VTE6 has phytyl-P kinase activity. Overexpression of VTE6 resulted in increased phytyl-diphosphate and tocopherol contents in seeds, indicating that VTE6 encodes phytyl-phosphate kinase. The severe growth retardation of vte6 mutants was partially rescued by introducing the phytol kinase mutation vte5. Double mutant plants (vte5 vte6) are tocopherol deficient and contain more chlorophyll, but reduced amounts of phytol and phytyl-phosphate compared with vte6 mutants, suggesting that phytol or phytyl-phosphate are detrimental to plant growth. Therefore, VTE6 represents the missing phytyl-phosphate kinase, linking phytol release from chlorophyll with tocopherol synthesis. Moreover, tocopherol synthesis in leaves depends on phytol derived from chlorophyll, not on de novo synthesis of phytyl-diphosphate from geranylgeranyl-diphosphate.     

植物体内的叶绿素降解与滞绿突变体

文章介绍植物体内叶绿素降解途径和滞绿突变体的新类型研究进展。     

The Characteristics of Solanum lycopersicum SlSPRH1 and its Negative Role in Thermotolerance in Arabidopsis

Journal of Plant Growth Regulation - Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are central regulatory modules in plant growth and development, dependent on activation of downstream target...     

Enzymatic Degradation of Chlorophyll in Chenopodium album

The breakdown of chlorophyll (Chi) in crude extracts of Chenopodiumalbum (white goose foot) in the dark was examined. Derivativesof pheophorbide were formed when Chi or chlorophyllide wasincubated with depigmented crude extracts. The formation ofpheophorbide was completely prevented by heat treatment of extracts,indicating that the reaction was enzymatic, and the presenceof a Mg-releasing enzyme, the so called Mg-dechelatase, waspostulated. This hypothesis was strongly supported by the observationthat the formation of pheophorbide was inhibited by 51% by 10mM MgCl₂. Analysis by high-performance thin-layer chromatography(HPTLC) and liquid chromatography (HPLC) showed that the appearanceof chlorophyllide , pheophorbide 13²-hydroxychlorophyllide and pyropheophorbide was accompanied by a concomitant decreasein levels of Chi The formation of 13²-hydroxychloro-phyllide was not clearly an enzymatic reaction and requires furtherexamination. It appears that Chl is degraded in a crude extractof C. album via the following enzymatically catalyzed reactions (Received September 10, 1990; Accepted November 15, 1990)     

Chlorophyll Metabolism in Higher Plants VI. Involvement of Peroxidase in Chlorophyll Degradation

The following phenolics were found to be essential for peroxidase-dependentchlorophyll bleaching: 2,4-dichlorophenol (DCP), p-coumaricacid (HCA), phenol, p-hydroxyphenylacetic acid, p-hydroxybenzoicacid, p-hydroxyacetophenone, resorcinol and umbelliferone. Mostof them are monophenols with electron-attracting groups at thep-position. The short-lived radicals generated by horseradishperoxidase (HRP)-phenolics-H₂O₂ reaction might be involved inthis reaction. Tobacco leaf enzyme preparation with peroxidaseactivity for guaiacol could also degrade chlorophyll with suchphenolics. In addition, tobacco leaf methanol extract couldsubstitute for chlorophyll bleaching as an electron donor inthe absence of phenolics. In place of free H₂O₂, the glycolate-glycolateoxidase (GOX) system could degrade chlorophyll in [peroxidase$phenolics]-dependentbleaching. This chlorophyll bleaching system was inhibited by peroxidaseinhibitors, radical scavengers, reducing reagents, and carotenoids.Ascorbate and glutathione stopped chlorophyll bleaching withGSSG reductase and NADPH. The role of ascorbate and glutathionein peroxidase activity for controlling the chlorophyll degradationrate is discussed. (Received January 28, 1985; Accepted July 23, 1985)     

Identification and Characterisation CRN Effectors in Phytophthora capsici Shows Modularity and Functional Diversity

Phytophthora species secrete a large array of effectors during infection of their host plants. The Crinkler (CRN) gene family encodes a ubiquitous but understudied class of effectors with possible but as of yet unknown roles in infection. To appreciate CRN effector function in Phytophthora, we devised a simple Crn gene identification and annotation pipeline to improve effector prediction rates. We predicted 84 full-length CRN coding genes and assessed CRN effector domain diversity in sequenced Oomycete genomes. These analyses revealed evidence of CRN domain innovation in Phytophthora and expansion in the Peronosporales. We performed gene expression analyses to validate and define two classes of CRN effectors, each possibly contributing to infection at different stages. CRN localisation studies revealed that P. capsici CRN effector domains target the nucleus and accumulate in specific sub-nuclear compartments. Phenotypic analyses showed that few CRN domains induce necrosis when expressed in planta and that one cell death inducing effector, enhances P. capsici virulence on Nicotiana benthamiana. These results suggest that the CRN protein family form an important class of intracellular effectors that target the host nucleus during infection. These results combined with domain expansion in hemi-biotrophic and necrotrophic pathogens, suggests specific contributions to pathogen lifestyles. This work will bolster CRN identification efforts in other sequenced oomycete species and set the stage for future functional studies towards understanding CRN effector functions.     

Role of Aminoalcoholphosphotransferases 1 and 2 in Phospholipid Homeostasis in Arabidopsis

Aminoalcoholphosphotransferase (AAPT) catalyzes the synthesis of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphotidylethanolamine (PE), which are the most prevalent membrane phospholipids in all eukaryotic cells. Here, we show that suppression of AAPTs results in extensive membrane phospholipid remodeling in Arabidopsis thaliana. Double knockout (KO) mutants that are hemizygous for either aapt1 or aapt2 display impaired pollen and seed development, leading to embryotic lethality of the double KO plants, whereas aapt1 or aapt2 single KO plants show no overt phenotypic alterations. The growth rate and seed yield of AAPT RNA interference (RNAi) plants are greatly reduced. Lipid profiling shows decreased total galactolipid and phospholipid content in aapt1-containing mutants, including aapt1, aapt1/aapt1 aapt2/AAPT2, aapt1/AAPT1 aapt2/aapt2, and AAPT RNAi plants. The level of PC in leaves was unchanged, whereas that of PE was reduced in all AAPT-deficient plants, except aapt2 KO. However, the acyl species of PC was altered, with increased levels of C34 species and decreased C36 species. Conversely, the levels of PE and phosphatidylinositol were decreased in C34 species. In seeds, all AAPT-deficient plants, including aapt2 KO, displayed a decrease in PE. The data show that AAPT1 and AAPT2 are essential to plant vegetative growth and reproduction and have overlapping functions but that AAPT1 contributes more than AAPT2 to PC production in vegetative tissues. The opposite changes in molecular species between PC and PE and unchanged PC level indicate the existence of additional pathways that maintain homeostatic levels of PC, which are crucial for the survival and proper development of plants.