扩展蛋白与植物抗逆性关系研究进展

扩展蛋白是一种细胞壁蛋白,可调节细胞壁的松弛和伸展。目前研究表明,扩展蛋白几乎参与调节植物生长发育的整个进程。扩展蛋白还与植物的多种抗性反应有关,在植物对干旱、高盐以及病虫害等生物胁迫和非生物胁迫响应方面起着重要的调节作用。干旱胁迫下扩展蛋白基因的表达与植物的抗旱性有一定的关系;植物的耐盐性受到扩展蛋白基因表达的影响;淹水促进植物的伸长生长与扩展蛋白的表达密切相关;扩展蛋白调节细胞壁松弛为植物抗病性研究提供了新的思路。     

小麦黄化胚芽鞘的细胞壁钙调素和钙调素结合蛋白

小麦黄化胚芽鞘经苯基琼脂糖亲和层析提取和纯化,其细胞壁CaM在有钙和缺钙时SDS电泳呈现不同的迁移率;依赖Ca~(2 )与苯基疏水结合;在紫外吸收光谱上具有五个特征峰;对PDE的激活剂量反应曲线和从非活性状态向活性状态转变时所需的Ca~(2 )浓度均和胞内CaM相同,说明细胞壁CaM和胞内CaM具有相同的基本理化特性。采用CaM琼脂糖亲和层析,发现在小麦细胞壁中存在CaM结合蛋白,其中以分子量为40.7 kD的 CaM结合多肽为主。细胞壁CaM结合蛋白不具有过氧化物酶、ATP酶或酸性磷酸酯酶的活性。     

细胞分裂素对水分胁迫中小麦胚芽鞘生长的影响

72小时苗龄的黄化小麦幼苗,用0.3M甘露醇进行根部水分胁迫,胚芽鞘鲜重和高度的增加完全被抑制。胁迫时用细胞分裂素处理,抑制被部分解除。其中玉米素作用最大,依次为6-BA和6-FP。水分胁迫胚芽鞘中游离脯氨酸含量增加,但可溶性糖和其他游离氨基酸含量未见增加。在玉米素处理的水分胁迫胚芽鞘内,这些物质含量明显增加,它显著促进了水分胁迫胚芽鞘中渗透调节作用。还原糖在渗透调节中起主要作用。玉米素处理促进水分胚迫引起的脯氨酸的积累,似有利于抗旱性的提高。水分胁迫还引起小麦胚芽鞘细胞质可溶性蛋白部分及细胞壁离子型结合的过氧化物酶活性的升高,和细胞质可溶性蛋白的下降,以及导致细胞壁非纤维素葡萄糖比例的下降,这些效应可被玉米素的处理所逆转。玉米素拮抗了水分胁迫所引起的细胞衰老的加速,和细胞壁力学性质的改变,从而促进水分胁迫下胚芽鞘细胞的伸长。     

大豆幼苗下胚轴扩张蛋白的存在及其特性

用离体细胞壁伸展活性重组法,对大豆（Ｇｌｙｃｉｎｅｍａｘ（Ｌ．）Ｍｅｒ．）幼苗下胚轴细胞壁特异性扩张蛋白的活性鉴定和特性研究结果表明,大豆幼苗下胚轴的延伸生长,既与扩张蛋白的活性升高有关,也与其细胞壁对扩张蛋白的敏感性增加有关;热钝化大豆下胚轴细胞壁的伸展活性,一旦被外源扩张蛋白所恢复,用酸性缓冲液（ｐＨ４．５）代替扩张蛋白提取液,伸展活性不受影响;但若换用中性缓冲液（ｐＨ６．８）,伸展活性丧失殆尽,且与活细胞壁一样,随缓冲液的交替更换而反复逆转;大豆和黄瓜幼苗扩张蛋白可以与其热钝化的细胞壁相互交叉重组。另外,重组的细胞壁伸展活性对扩张蛋白浓度和ｐＨ的依赖性,符合一般酶的催化特征,说明扩张蛋白不仅在植物细胞的延伸生长过程中起着极为重要的作用,而且还暗示植物细胞壁的内源伸展就是该蛋白介导的一种生物化学过程。     

植物水通道蛋白的干旱应答机制研究进展

干旱胁迫是严重影响全球作物生产的非生物胁迫之一,研究植物耐旱机制已成为一个重要领域。水通道蛋白是一类特异、高效转运水及其它小分子底物的膜通道蛋白,在植物中具有丰富的亚型,参与调节植物的水分吸收和运输。近10年来,水通道蛋白在植物不同生理过程中的作用,一直受到研究人员的关注,特别是在非生物胁迫方面,而研究表明水通道蛋白在干旱胁迫下对植物的耐旱性起着至关重要的作用,能维持细胞水分稳态和调控环境胁迫快速响应。水通道蛋白在植物耐旱过程中的调控机制及功能较复杂,而关于其应答机制和不同亚型功能性研究的报道甚少。该文综述了植物水通道蛋白的分类、结构、表达调控和活性调节,分别从植物水通道蛋白响应干旱表达调控机制、水通道蛋白基因表达的时空特异性、水通道蛋白基因的表达与蛋白丰度,水通道蛋白基因的耐旱转化四个方面阐明干旱胁迫下植物水通道蛋白的表达,重点阐述其参与植物干旱胁迫应答的作用机制,并提出水通道蛋白研究的主要方向。     

植物调控盐胁迫下细胞壁完整性的分子机制

植物细胞壁不仅起着支撑和保护细胞的作用，还被认为是植物抵抗逆境胁迫环境的第一道屏障。作为限制农业生产的一个主要非生物胁迫因子，盐胁迫能造成植物细胞壁的组分和结构发生改变，而植物可以通过细胞壁完整性感受器如CrRLK1Ls、LRXs和WAKs等蛋白来感知这些变化并启动下游盐胁迫响应。在细胞内，植物通过盐胁迫诱导的Ca²⁺内流、植物激素等信号促进细胞壁多聚糖合成和修饰相关基因的表达，从而有助于维持细胞壁的完整性，增强植物盐胁迫适应性。本文概述了植物初生细胞壁多聚糖的主要组分和各组分之间的相互结合关系，并且阐述了盐胁迫对细胞壁各组分的影响，以及盐胁迫下植物感知和维持细胞壁完整性的分子机制，最后讨论了盐胁迫下细胞壁完整性感知和调控研究领域还需要解决的科学问题。     

细胞壁在植物重金属耐性中的作用

植物细胞壁主要是由多糖、蛋白质和木质素等组成的一个复合体,广泛参与植物生长发育及对各种逆境胁迫的响应,是重金属离子进入细胞质的第一道屏障。本文主要综述了植物细胞壁主要成分,包括细胞壁多糖、细胞壁蛋白质和木质素,在响应重金属胁迫反应中的作用及其参与重金属耐性的机制,以期能对植物细胞壁在重金属耐性中的作用有更深入的了解。     

植物细胞壁蛋白质组学研究进展

植物细胞壁蛋白质在细胞代谢和发育调控、细胞壁组分修饰、信号转导及胁迫响应等生物学事件中具有重要功能.最近,国内外学者开展了大量植物细胞壁蛋白质组学的研究工作,并取得了巨大进展.本文详述了细胞壁蛋白质的分类、提取、鉴定及生物信息学分析的最新进展,总结了植物细胞壁蛋白质组学的应用和面临的挑战,提出了植物细胞壁蛋白质组学研究的框架图,以期为植物细胞壁蛋白质组学的广泛研究提供借鉴.     

扩展蛋白与激素调控的生长发育

扩展蛋白是一类具有细胞壁松弛功能的蛋白质,它不仅能调节细胞壁的松弛和伸张,而且在调控植物的生长发育以及逆境响应过程中具有重要的作用。扩展蛋白作为激素调节因子能够对多种激素产生响应,从而调节植物的生长发育:扩展蛋白参与了乙烯调节的植物生长发育过程;改变植物内源的生长素水平或用外源生长素进行处理同样影响扩展蛋白基因的表达;扩展蛋白可能参与赤霉素和脱落酸调节的生长发育和逆境响应过程;此外,施加外源的茉莉酸甲酯、油菜素内酯和细胞分裂素也会影响扩展蛋白基因的表达水平。本文综述了扩展蛋白在激素介导的植物生长发育方面的最新研究进展,以期为研究者更直观便捷的了解该方面现状提供依据。     

植物响应水分胁迫的主要功能蛋白

植物对水分胁迫的响应蛋白根据其在抗逆机制中的作用不同分为调节蛋白和功能蛋白,本文就植物抵抗和适应水分胁迫的活性氧清除机制、渗透调节机制及膜修饰机制相关的主要功能蛋白作一综述。     

Expansins and coleoptile elongation in wheat

Expansins are now generally accepted to be the key regulators of wall extension during plant growth. The aim of this study was to characterize expansins in wheat coleoptiles and determine their roles in regulating cell growth. Endogenous and reconstituted wall extension activities of wheat coleoptiles were measured. The identification of beta-expansins was confirmed on the basis of expansin activity, immunoblot analysis, and beta-expansin inhibition. Expansin activities of wheat coleoptiles were shown to be sensitive to pH and a number of exogenously applied factors, and their optimum pH range was found to be 4.0 to 4.5, close to that of alpha-expansins. They were induced by dithiothreitol, K(+), and Mg(2+), but inhibited by Zn(2+), Cu(2+), Al(3+), and Ca(2+), similar to those found in cucumber hypocotyls. An expansin antibody raised against TaEXPB23, a vegetative expansin of the beta-expansin family, greatly inhibited acid-induced extension of native wheat coleoptiles and only one protein band was recognized in Western blot experiments, suggesting that beta-expansins are the main members affecting cell wall extension of wheat coleoptiles. The growth of wheat coleoptiles was closely related to the activity and expression of expansins. In conclusion, our results suggest the presence of expansins in wheat coleoptiles, and it is possible that most of them are members of the beta-expansin family, but are not group 1 grass pollen allergens. The growth of wheat coleoptiles is intimately correlated with expansin expression, in particularly that of beta-expansins.     

Expansins in Plant Growth and Development: an Update on an Emerging Topic

Abstract: Expansins are a class of proteins identified by their ability to induce the extension of isolated plant cell walls. Expansins are encoded by an extensive multigene family in higher plants, several members of which have been shown to be expressed in a tissue-specific manner. Besides playing an apparently key role in wall expansion, and hence in cell growth, expansins have been implicated in an increasing number of processes during plant growth and development. These include: leaf organogenesis, fruit softening, and wall disassembly. A second class of closely related proteins (referred to as β-expansins) has been identified. Other recent advances in expansin research include the recovery of transgenic plants with altered level of expansins, and the production of recombinant expansins in het-erologous expression systems.     

Evolutionary divergence of β–expansin structure and function in grasses parallels emergence of distinctive primary cell wall traits

Expansins are wall‐loosening proteins that promote the extension of primary cell walls without the hydrolysis of major structural components. Previously, proteins from the EXPA (α–expansin) family were found to loosen eudicot cell walls but to be less effective on grass cell walls, whereas the reverse pattern was found for EXPB (β–expansin) proteins obtained from grass pollen. To understand the evolutionary and structural bases for the selectivity of EXPB action, we assessed the extension (creep) response of cell walls from diverse monocot families to EXPA and EXPB treatments. Cell walls from Cyperaceae and Juncaceae (families closely related to grasses) displayed a typical grass response (‘β–response’). Walls from more distant monocots, including some species that share with grasses high levels of arabinoxylan, responded preferentially to α–expansins (‘α–response’), behaving in this regard like eudicots. An expansin with selective activity for grass cell walls was detected in Cyperaceae pollen, coinciding with the expression of genes from the divergent EXPB–I branch that includes grass pollen β–expansins. The evolutionary origin of this branch was located within Poales on the basis of phylogenetic analyses and its association with the ‘sigma’ whole‐genome duplication. Accelerated evolution in this branch has remodeled the protein surface in contact with the substrate, potentially for binding highly substituted arabinoxylan. We propose that the evolution of the divergent EXPB–I group made a fundamental change in the target and mechanism of wall loosening in the grass lineage possible, involving a new structural role for xylans and the expansins that target them.     

Expansin mode of action on cell walls. Analysis of wall hydrolysis, stress relaxation, and binding

The biochemical mechanisms underlying cell wall expansion in plants have long been a matter of conjecture. Previous work in our laboratory identified two proteins (named "expansins") that catalyze the acid-induced extension of isolated cucumber cell walls. Here we examine the mechanism of expansin action with three approaches. First, we report that expansins did not alter the molecular mass distribution or the viscosity of solutions of matrix polysaccharides. We conclude that expansins do not hydrolyze the major pectins or hemicelluloses of the cucumber wall. Second, we investigated the effects of expansins on stress relaxation of isolated walls. These studies show that expansins account for the pH-sensitive and heat-labile components of wall stress relaxation. In addition, these experiments show that expansins do not cause a progressive weakening of the walls, as might be expected from the action of a hydrolase. Third, we studied the binding of expansins to the cell wall and its components. The binding characteristics are consistent with this being the site of expansin action. We found that expansins bind weakly to crystalline cellulose but that this binding is greatly increased upon coating the cellulose with various hemicelluloses. Xyloglucan, either solubilized or as a coating on cellulose microfibrils, was not very effective as a binding substrate. Expansins were present in growing cell walls in low quantities (approximately 1 part in 5000 on a dry weight basis), suggesting that they function catalytically. We conclude that expansins bind at the interface between cellulose microfibrils and matrix polysaccharides in the wall and induce extension by reversibly disrupting noncovalent bonds within this polymeric network. Our results suggest that a minor structural component of the matrix, other than pectin and xyloglucan, plays an important role in expansin binding to the wall and, presumably, in expansin action.     

Impaired growth in transgenic plants over-expressing an expansin isoform

Expansins are cell wall proteins characterised by their ability to stimulate wall loosening during cell expansion. The expression of some expansin isoforms is clearly correlated with growth and the external application of expansins can stimulate cell expansion in vivo in several systems. We report here the expression of a heterologous expansin coding sequence in transgenic tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) under the control of a constitutive promoter. In some transgenic lines with high levels of expansin activity extractable from cell walls, we observed alterations of growth: mature plants were stunted, with shorter leaves and internodes, and dark-grown seedlings had shorter and wider hypocotyls than their wild-type counterparts. Examination of hypocotyl sections revealed similar differences at the cellular level: cortical and epidermal cells were shorter and wider than those from wild-type seedlings. The observed stimulation of radial expansion did not compensate for the decreased elongation, and overall growth was reduced in the transgenics. As this observation can seem paradoxical given the known effect of expansins on isolated cell walls, we examined the mechanical behaviour of transgenic tissue. We measured a decrease in hypocotyl elongation in response to acidic pH in the transformants. This result may account for the alterations in cell expansion, and could itself be explained by a reduced susceptibility of transgenic cell walls to expansin action.     

PhEXPA1, a Petunia hybrida expansin,is involved in cell wall metabolism and in plant architecture specification

Expansins are wall-loosening proteins that induce wall stress relaxation and irreversible wall extension in a pH-dependent manner. Despite a substantial body of work has been performed on the characterization of many expansins genes in different plant species, the knowledge about their precise biological roles during plant development remains scarce. To yield insights into the expansion process in Petunia hybrida, PhEXPA1, an expansin gene preferentially expressed in petal limb, has been characterized. The constitutive overexpression of PhEXPA1 significantly increased expansin activity, cells size and organ dimensions. Moreover, 35S::PhEXPA1 transgenic plants exhibited an altered cell wall polymer composition and a precocious timing of axillary meristem development compared with wild-type plants. These findings supported a previous hypothesis that expansins are not merely structural proteins involved in plant cell wall metabolism but they also take part in many plant development processes. Here, to support this expansins dual role, we discuss about differential cell wall-related genes expressed in PhEXPA1 expression mutants and gradients of altered petunia branching pattern.     

Suppression of cell wall stiffening along coleoptiles of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seedlings grown under osmotic stress conditions

Effects of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-induced osmotic stress on the mechanical properties of cell walls and the levels of their components were investigated along intact wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) coleoptiles. Stress-relaxation analysis showed that the cell walls of stressed coleoptiles were loosened as compared with those of unstressed ones not only in the apical but in the basal regions. The amounts of wall-bound ferulic acid (FA) and diferulic acid (DFA) of stressed coleoptiles were substantially lower than those of unstressed ones in all regions. The cellulose and hemicellulose contents increased toward the coleoptile base. Osmotic stress reduced the cellulose content in the basal region but it slightly affected the hemicellulose content. The molecular weight of hemicellulose in the apical region of stressed coleoptiles was higher than that of unstressed ones, while that in the basal region was almost the same in both coleoptiles. FA, DFA and cellulose contents correlated with the cell wall mechanical property. The amount and molecular weight of hemicellulose, however, did not correlate. These results suggest that the reduced levels of FA and DFA in all regions and cellulose in the basal region of wheat coleoptiles are involved in maintaining the cell wall extensibility under osmotic stress.     

Role of Expansin in Cell Enlargement of Oat Coleoptiles (Analysis of Developmental Gradients and Photocontrol)

Expansins are wall proteins that mediate a type of acid-induced extension in isolated plant cell walls (S. McQueen-Mason, D.M. Durachko, D.J. Cosgrove [1992] Plant Cell 4: 1425-1433). To assess the role of these proteins in the process of cell enlargement in living tissues, we compared the spatial and temporal growth patterns of oat (Avena sativa L.) coleoptiles with four wall properties related to expansin action. These properties were (a) the ability of isolated walls and living segments to extend in acidic buffer, (b) the ability of heat-inactivated walls to extend upon application of expansins, (c) the amount of immunologically detectable expansin in wall protein extracts, and (d) the extractable expansin activity of walls. Growth rate was maximal in the apical half of dark-grown coleoptiles and negligible in the basal region. This growth pattern correlated with properties a and b; in contrast, the amount and activity of extractable expansin (properties c and d) were reduced only in the most basal region. Upon exposure to white light, coleoptiles abruptly ceased elongation at 8 to 10 h after start of irradiation, and this cessation correlated with reductions in properties a to c. The growth cessation at 8 to 10 h also coincided with the loss of growth response to exogenous auxin and fusicoccin in excised coleoptile segments. These results lend correlative support to the hypothesis that expansin action is important for growth responses of living oat coleoptiles (e.g. responses to acidic buffers, auxin, fusicoccin, aging, and light). Our results suggest that changes in the susceptibility of the wall to expansin action, rather than changes in expansin activity, may be a key determinant of the growth patterns in oat coleoptiles.