CCACA碱基序列是玉米CMS-S线粒体orf355-orf77转录本剪切识别位点

玉米S型细胞质雄性不育系（CMS-S）及其近等基因恢复系是研究核 质互作机制的重要遗传资源和理想模式体系．目前认为,CMS-S花粉败育是由其线粒体内细胞质不育基因orf355-orf77表达的毒性蛋白引起,而核育性恢复基因Rf3可通过引发orf355-orf77转录本的降解而解除其毒性作用,使花粉育性得以恢复．本研究采用Northern杂交和3′-RACE技术确定了orf355-orf77转录本的剪切位点,并发现在育性恢复的花粉中,orf355-orf77转录本被剪切成小片段之后聚合了poly(A)序列,推测这一过程加速了mRNA分子的降解,是育性恢复的关键环节．利用生物信息学方法分析了orf355-orf77转录本6个剪切位点的侧翼序列,发现在剪切位点下游10个碱基的位置均含有5′-CCACA-3′序列,推测该序列受到特定功能蛋白的识别,然后募集核酸内切酶对其进行剪切．研究结果可为揭示玉米CMS S育性恢复机理提供重要的理论依据．     

毛果杨HDA901基因的克隆和表达分析

该实验克隆了毛果杨组蛋白去乙酰化酶基因HDA901的编码序列,并进行生物信息学、亚细胞定位和盐胁迫表达分析。序列分析表明,HDA901开放阅读框为1 245bp,编码1个由414个氨基酸残基组成的蛋白质,等电点为5.77;毛果杨HDA901与其他植物同源蛋白具有一段保守序列,在进化上与拟南芥AtHDA14亲缘关系较近。启动子分析表明,毛果杨HDA901基因启动子序列包含ACE、ABRE、HSE和TC-rich repeats等多个与逆境相关的顺式作用元件。亚细胞定位分析表明,毛果杨HDA901蛋白在细胞核和细胞质中无分布,可能位于线粒体或穿梭于线粒体和叶绿体之间。实时荧光定量PCR结果显示,毛果杨HDA901基因表达受盐胁迫调节,在盐胁迫下,根和茎中HDA901基因表达受抑制;叶中HDA901基因表达受诱导。研究表明,毛果杨HDA901基因参与盐胁迫应答反应。     

The plant mitochondrial open reading frame orf221 encodes a membrane-bound protein

We have shown that the open reading frame orf221 is an active mitochondrial gene which encodes a novel mitochondrial polypeptide. The orf221 sequence is common to higher plants but absent in animal and fungal mitochondria. A mitochondrial polypeptide with an apparent molecular weight of 21 000 was detected with a polyclonal antibody raised against an ORF221 fusion protein. In organello translation followed by immunoprecipitation with the anti-ORF221 antibody demonstrated that this polypeptide is encoded by the orf221 gene in plant mitochondria. The ORF221 was found to be a mitochondrial membrane protein in normal (N), cms-T, and cms-C cytoplasms of several inbred lines of maize (Zea mays L.) and in other plant species.     

玉米萜类植保素代谢关键基因对小斑病侵染的防御响应分析

该研究选用小斑病差异抗性的玉米自交系Mo17（较抗）、‘郑58’（中抗）和‘吉419’（感）,分别于接种小斑病病原菌玉蜀黍平脐孺胞（Cochliobolus heterostrophus）0、6、12、24、36和48 h时采集接种叶片为材料,采用半定量和实时荧光定量PCR技术,检测倍半萜植保素Zealexin生物合成关键基因（TPS6、TPS11）、二萜植保素Kauralexin代谢关键基因An2以及茉莉酸合成关键基因AOC的表达模式,为阐明不同抗性品种对玉米小斑病的差异防御机制提供理论依据。结果显示：接种小斑病病原菌后,抗病自交系Mo17中TPS6、TPS11基因表达诱导不显著,An2基因表达迅速增加,AOC基因于接种12 h后表达明显上调。‘郑58’中TPS6、TPS11基因被快速诱导,在接种24 h时表达量达到最大,An2基因表达逐渐增加但差异不显著,AOC基因表达量于接种6 h后显著增加;感病自交系‘吉419’中TPS6、TPS11、An2基因在接种24 h后才显著上调,明显比抗性自交系缓慢,AOC基因表达先呈现递减的趋势然后上升,在24 h表达量最高并持续到48 h。研究表明,两类植保素代谢在玉米小斑病防御中具有不同的时间应答模式,但都受到茉莉酸介导。感病自交系中植保素代谢防御响应较慢,而抗病自交系中响应较快,符合其抗性差异。     

Higher expression of induced defenses in teosintes (Zea spp.) is correlated with greater resistance to fall armyworm,Spodoptera frugiperda

Selection for plant traits important for agriculture can come at a high cost to plant defenses. While selecting for increased growth rate and yield, domestication and subsequent breeding may lead to weakened defenses and greater susceptibility of plants to herbivores. We tested whether expression of defense genes differed among maize, Zea mays ssp. mays L. (Poaceae), and its wild relatives Zea mays ssp. parviglumis Iltis & Doebley and Zea diploperennis Iltis et al. We used two populations of Z. mays ssp. parviglumis: one expected to express high levels of an herbivore resistance gene, wound‐inducible protein (wip1), and another expected to have low expression of wip1. To test whether maize and wild Zea differed in induction of defenses against Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), we quantified expression of several genes involved in plant defense: wip1, maize protease inhibitor (mpi), pathogenesis‐related protein (PR‐1), and chitinase. Moreover, we compared growth, development, and survival of caterpillars on maize and wild Zea plants. We found that maize expressed low levels of all but one of the genes when attacked by caterpillars, whereas the wild relatives of maize expressed induced defense genes at high levels. Expression of wip1, in particular, was much greater in the Z. mays ssp. parviglumis population that we expected to naturally express high levels of wip1, with expression levels 29‐fold higher than in herbivore‐free plants. Elevated expression of defenses in wild plants was correlated with higher resistance to caterpillars. Larvae were 15–20% smaller on wild Zea compared with maize, developed 20% slower, and only 22% of them survived to pupation on Z. mays ssp. parviglumis with high levels of wip1. Our results suggest that domestication has inadvertently reduced the resistance of maize, and it is likely that expression of wip1 and other genes associated with defenses play an important role in this reduction in resistance.     

RFLP mapping of the maize gametophytic restorer-of-fertility locus (rf3) and aberrant pollen transmission of the nonrestoring rf3 allele

 Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is the maternally inherited inability to produce functional pollen. The Rf3 allele of the nuclear gene rf3 gametophytically restores male fertility to maize plants with the S-type of CMS. The rf3 locus is on the long arm of maize chromosome two (2L). Using 2L RFLPs and three-point mapping analysis we showed that the rf3 locus is located an estimated 4.3 cM distal to the whp locus and 6.4 cM proximal to the bnl17.14 locus. This information was used in combination with RFLPs on two additional maize chromosomes to show that Rf3/rf3 CMS-S plants may aberrantly transmit the nonrestoring allele, rf3, through the male gametophyte. Received: 30 September 1996/Accepted: 21 March 1997     

Overexpression of the phosphatidylinositol synthase gene (ZmPIS) conferring drought stress tolerance by altering membrane lipid composition and increasing ABA synthesis in maize

Phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) synthase is a key enzyme in the phospholipid pathway and catalyses the formation of PtdIns. PtdIns is not only a structural component of cell membranes, but also the precursor of the phospholipid signal molecules that regulate plant response to environment stresses. Here, we obtained transgenic maize constitutively overexpressing or underexpressing PIS from maize (ZmPIS) under the control of a maize ubiquitin promoter. Transgenic plants were confirmed by PCR, Southern blotting analysis and real‐time RT‐PCR assay. The electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS/MS)‐based lipid profiling analysis showed that, under drought stress conditions, the overexpression of ZmPIS in maize resulted in significantly elevated levels of most phospholipids and galactolipids in leaves compared with those in wild type (WT). At the same time, the expression of some genes involved in the phospholipid metabolism pathway and the abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis pathway including ZmPLC, ZmPLD, ZmDGK1, ZmDGK3, ZmPIP5K9, ZmABA1, ZmNCED, ZmAAO1, ZmAAO2 and ZmSCA1 was markedly up‐regulated in the overexpression lines after drought stress. Consistent with these results, the drought stress tolerance of the ZmPIS sense transgenic plants was enhanced significantly at the pre‐flowering stages compared with WT maize plants. These results imply that ZmPIS regulates the plant response to drought stress through altering membrane lipid composition and increasing ABA synthesis in maize.     

Isolation and characterization of the cytoplasmic male sterility-associated <Emphasis Type="Italic">orf456</Emphasis> gene of chili pepper (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Capsicum annuum</Emphasis> L.)

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in plants is known to be associated with novel open reading frames (ORFs) that result from recombination events in the mitochondrial genome. In this study Southern and Northern blot analyses using several mitochondrial DNA probes were conducted to detect the presence of differing band patterns between male fertile and CMS lines of chili pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). In the CMS pepper, a novel ORF, termed orf456, was found at the 3′-end of the coxII gene. Western blot analysis revealed the expression of an approximately 17-kDa product in the CMS line, and the intensity of expression of this protein was severely reduced in the restorer pepper line. To investigate the functional role of the ORF456 protein in plant mitochondria, we carried out two independent experiments to transform Arabidopsis with a mitochondrion-targeted orf456 gene construct by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. About 45% of the T₁ transgenic population showed the male-sterile phenotype and no seed set. Pollen grains from semi-sterile T₁ plants were observed to have defects on the exine layer and vacuolated pollen phenotypes. It is concluded that this newly discovered orf456 may represent a strong candidate gene – from among the many CMS-associated mitochondrial genes – for determining the male-sterile phenotype of CMS in chili pepper. GenBank accession number DQ116040 (orf456 genomic sequence), DQ126683 (pepper coxII genomic sequence)     

Expression of Phenylalanine Ammonia Lyase Genes in Maize Lines Differing in Susceptibility to Meloidogyne incognita

Maize is a well-known host for Meloidogyne incognita, and there is substantial variation in host status among maize genotypes. In previous work it was observed that nematode reproduction increased in the moderately susceptible maize inbred line B73 when the ZmLOX3 gene from oxylipid metabolism was knocked out. Additionally, in this mutant line, use of a nonspecific primer for phenyl alanine ammonialyase (PAL) genes indicated that expression of these genes was reduced in the mutant maize plants whereas expression of several other defense related genes was increased. In this study, we used more specific gene primers to examine the expression of six PAL genes in three maize genotypes that were good, moderate, and poor hosts for M. incognita, respectively. Of the six PAL genes interrogated, two (ZmPAL3 and ZmPAL6) were not expressed in either M. incognita–infected or noninfected roots. Three genes (ZmPAL1, ZmPAL2, and ZmPAL5) were strongly expressed in all three maize lines, in both nematode-infected and noninfected roots, between 2 and 16 d after inoculation (DAI). In contrast, ZmPAL4 was most strongly expressed in the most-resistant maize line W438, was not detected in the most-susceptible maize line CML, and was detected only at 8 DAI in the maize line B73 that supported intermediate levels of reproduction by M. incognita. These observations are consistent with at least one PAL gene playing a role in modulating host status of maize toward M. incognita and suggest a need for additional research to further elucidate this association.