Cloning and characterization of the histidine kinase gene<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Dic1</Emphasis> from<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Cochliobolus heterostrophus</Emphasis> that confers dicarboximide resistance and osmotic adaptation

A gene for a putative two-component histidine kinase, which is homologous to os-1 from Neurospora crassa, was cloned and sequenced from the plant-pathogenic fungus Cochliobolus heterostrophus. The predicted protein possessed the conserved histidine kinase domain, the response regulator domain, and six tandem repeats of 92-amino-acids at the N-terminal end that are found in histidine kinases from other filamentous fungi. Introduction of the histidine kinase gene complemented the deficiency of the C. heterostrophus dic1 mutant, suggesting that the Dic1 gene product is a histidine kinase. Dic1 mutants are resistant to dicarboximide and phenylpyrrole fungicides, and they are sensitive to osmotic stress. We previously classified dic1 alleles into three types, based on their phenotypes. To explain the phenotypic differences among the dic1 mutant alleles, we cloned and sequenced the mutant dic1 genes and compared their sequences with that of the wild-type strain. Null mutants for Dic1, and mutants with a deletion or point mutation in the N-terminal repeat region, were highly sensitive to osmotic stress and highly resistant to both fungicides. A single amino acid change within the kinase domain or the regulator domain altered the sensitivity to osmotic stress and conferred moderate resistance to the fungicides. These results suggest that this predicted protein, especially its repeat region, has an important function in osmotic adaptation and fungicide resistance.Communicated by C. A. M. J. J. van den Hondel     

A novel zinc-finger-like gene from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tamarix hispida</Emphasis> is involved in salt and osmotic tolerance

In the present study, a zinc-finger-like cDNA (ThZFL) was cloned from the Tamarix hispida. Northern blot analysis showed that the expression of ThZFL can be induced by salt, osmotic stress and ABA treatment. Overexpression of the ThZFL confers salt and osmotic stress tolerance in both yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and tobacco. Furthermore, MDA levels in ThZFL transformed tobacco were significantly decreased compared with control plants under salt and osmotic stress, suggesting ThZFL may confer stress tolerance by decreasing membrane lipid peroxidation. Subcellular localization analysis showed the ThZFL protein is localized in the cell wall. Our results indicated the ThZFL gene is an excellent candidate for genetic engineering to improve salt and osmotic tolerance in agricultural plants.     

致病性葡萄球菌cfr基因介导的多重耐药机制研究进展

葡萄球菌是临床常见致病菌及食源性致病菌,可在食品原料加工、包装及运输过程中污染食品,引起人体多种严重感染,其耐药性的不断增强对公共卫生安全产生了重大的威胁。葡萄球菌中cfr (chloramphenicol-florfenicol resistance)基因编码的甲基转移酶,可引起细菌核糖体RNA的甲基化,从而阻碍或减弱多种化学结构不同的抗生素与肽基转移酶活性中心(peptidyl transferase center,PTC)的结合,导致葡萄球菌多重耐药表型的出现。噁唑烷酮类药物−利奈唑胺是继万古霉素后治疗耐药革兰氏阳性菌所致感染的最后一道防线,cfr基因的出现大大加速了利奈唑胺耐药性的传播。cfr基因广泛分布于多种致病性葡萄球菌中,cfr基因与各类型可转移元件(质粒、转座子和整合相关元件等)密切关联的遗传环境是其广泛传播的结构基础。在cfr基因水平传播的过程中,食源性致病葡萄球菌作为中间者扮演着重要的角色。本文就近年来国内外对致病性葡萄球菌中cfr基因的分布状况、耐药机制、遗传环境、传播机制等进行综述,以期为防控致病性葡萄球菌的传播提供参考,以遏制多重耐药菌的进一步传播。     

A cellulose synthase‐like protein is required for osmotic stress tolerance in Arabidopsis

Osmotic stress imposed by soil salinity and drought stress significantly affects plant growth and development, but osmotic stress sensing and tolerance mechanisms are not well understood. Forward genetic screens using a root‐bending assay have previously identified salt overly sensitive (sos) mutants of Arabidopsis that fall into five loci, SOS1 to SOS5. These loci are required for the regulation of ion homeostasis or cell expansion under salt stress, but do not play a major role in plant tolerance to the osmotic stress component of soil salinity or drought. Here we report an additional sos mutant, sos6‐1, which defines a locus essential for osmotic stress tolerance. sos6‐1 plants are hypersensitive to salt stress and osmotic stress imposed by mannitol or polyethylene glycol in culture media or by water deficit in the soil. SOS6 encodes a cellulose synthase‐like protein, AtCSLD5. Only modest differences in cell wall chemical composition could be detected, but we found that sos6‐1 mutant plants accumulate high levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) under osmotic stress and are hypersensitive to the oxidative stress reagent methyl viologen. The results suggest that SOS6/AtCSLD5 is not required for normal plant growth and development but has a critical role in osmotic stress tolerance and this function likely involves its regulation of ROS under stress.     

Genetic analysis of involvement of ETR1 in plant response to salt and osmotic stress

The involvement of ethylene and ethylene receptor Ethylene Response 1 (ETR1) in plant stress responses has been highlighted. However, the physiological processes involved remain unclear. In this study, we have investigated the physiological response of two alleles etr1-1 and etr1-7 mutants during germination and post-germination seedling development in response to salt and osmotic stress. The etr1-1 mutants showed increased sensitivity to osmotic (200 mM or higher mannitol) and salt stress (50 mM NaCl or higher) during germination and seedling development, whereas the etr1-7 mutants displayed enhanced tolerance to the severe stresses (500 mM mannitol or 200 mM NaCl). These results provide physiological and genetic evidence that ethylene receptor ETR1 modulates plant response to abiotic stress. Furthermore, the etr1-1 and etr1-7 mutants showed different responses to exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) inhibition. The etr1-1 mutants were more sensitive to ABA than the wild type during germination, and young seedling development. In sharp contrast, the etr1-7 mutants showed enhanced insensitivity to ABA treatment (>1 μM ABA) in post-germination development including root elongation and greening of cotyledons of the treated seedlings, although the germination was not greatly altered at the tested doses of ABA. The results suggest that ETR1-modulated stress response may mediate ABA. Youning Wang and Tao Wang contributed equally to this report.     

Arabidopsis EIN2 modulates stress response through abscisic acid response pathway

The nuclear protein ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE2 (EIN2) is a central component of the ethylene signal transduction pathway in plants, and plays an important role in mediating cross-links between several hormone response pathways, including abscisic acid (ABA). ABA mediates stress responses in plants, but there is no report on the role of EIN2 on plant response to salt and osmotic stresses. Here, we show that EIN2 gene regulates plant response to osmotic and salt stress through an ABA-dependent pathway in Arabidopsis. The expression of the EIN2 gene is down-regulated by salt and osmotic stress. An Arabidopsis EIN2 null mutant was supersensitive to both salt and osmotic stress conditions. Disruption of EIN2 specifically altered the expression pattern of stress marker gene RD29B in response to the stresses, but not the stress- or ABA-responsive genes RD29A and RD22, suggesting EIN2 modulates plant stress responses through the RD29B branch of the ABA response. Furthermore, disruption of EIN2 caused substantial increase in ABA. Lastly, our data showed that mutations of other key genes in ethylene pathway also had altered sensitivity to abiotic stresses, indicating that the intact ethylene may involve in the stress response. Taken together, the results identified EIN2 as a cross-link node in ethylene, ABA and stress signaling pathways, and EIN2 is necessary to induce developmental arrest during seed germination, and seedling establishment, as well as subsequent vegetative growth, thereby allowing the survival and growth of plants under the adverse environmental conditions. Youning Wang and Chuang Liu contributed equally to this work.     

HbCIPK2, a novel CBL-interacting protein kinase from halophyte Hordeum brevisubulatum, confers salt and osmotic stress tolerance

Protein kinases play an important role in regulating the response to abiotic stress in plant. CIPKs are plant‐specific signal transducers, and some members have been identified. However, the precise functions of novel CIPKs still remain unknown. Here we report that HbCIPK2 is a positive regulator of salt and osmotic stress tolerance. HbCIPK2 was screened out of the differentially expressed fragments from halophyte Hordeum brevisubulatum by cDNA‐AFLP technique, and was a single‐copy gene without intron. Expression of HbCIPK2 was increased by salt, drought and ABA treatment. HbCIPK2 is mainly localized to the plasma membrane and nucleus. Ectopic expression of 35S:HbCIPK2 not only rescued the salt hypersensitivity in Arabidopsis mutant sos2‐1, but also enhanced salt tolerance in Arabidopsis wild type, and exhibited tolerance to osmotic stress during germination. The HbCIPK2 contributed to the ability to prevent K⁺ loss in root and to accumulate less Na⁺ in shoot resulting in K⁺/Na⁺ homeostasis and protection of root cell from death, which is consistent with the gene expression profile of HbCIPK2‐overexpressing lines. These findings imply possible novel HbCIPK2‐mediated salt signalling pathways or networks in H. brevisubulatum.     

Overexpression of aThellungiella halophila CBl9 homolog,ThCBL9, confers salt and osmotic tolerances in transgenicarabidopsis thaliana

The calcineurin B-like (CBL) proteins, comprising a large subfamily of calcium sensors in plant cells, play an important role in many stress responses. We cloned a gene from the halophyteThellungiella halophila that is homologous toAtCBL9 inArabidopsis thaliana. The 1008-bpThCBL9 contains an ORF of 639 bp and encodes 213 amino acids, with a 5“-untranslated region of 193 bp and a 3”-untranslated region of 176 bp. Its amino acid sequence shares high homology with AtCBLs.ThCBL9 is up-regulated by ABA, NaCI, and PEG inThellungiella leaves. Using molecular biological methods, we over-expressedThCBL9 inA. thaliana and found that this enhanced tolerances to both high salt and osmotic stress in transgenicArabidopsis. These authors contributed equally to this work.     

甘菊木质素调控转录因子ClSND1-like的克隆与表达分析

为了探索纤维特异表达的NAC类转录因子SND1(secondary wall-associated NAC domain protein1,SND1)在甘菊(Chrysanthemum lavandulifolium)生长发育及非生物胁迫中的作用,该研究从甘菊中克隆了ClSND1-like基因,并对其进行生物信息学、亚细胞定位及表达模式分析。结果发现:(1)ClSND1-like基因的编码区全长1185 bp,共计编码394个氨基酸,是一个不稳定的亲水性蛋白,与除虫菊基因亲缘关系较近。(2)亚细胞定位结果表明,ClSND1-like基因在叶中不表达,在茎的导管壁上特异表达,属于木质素特异表达基因。(3)实时荧光定量PCR结果发现,ClSND1-like基因在茎中表达量最高,在根和叶中表达量极低,且随着茎秆的老化,表达量逐渐升高;在渗透胁迫和盐胁迫中表达量均显著提高。研究推测,ClSND1-like基因与甘菊木质素形成相关,并参与调控植物生长及盐和渗透胁迫。该结果为ClSND1-like基因在甘菊生长和非生物胁迫抗性中的研究奠定了基础,也为菊属植物的生长及抗性研究提供了新思路。     

Constitutive overexpression of the calcium sensor CBL5 confers osmotic or drought stress tolerance in Arabidopsis

Calcium serves as a critical messenger in many adaptation and developmental processes. Cellular calcium signals are detected and transmitted by sensor molecules such as calcium-binding proteins. In plants, the calcineurin B-like protein (CBL) family represents a unique group of calcium sensors and plays a key role in decoding calcium transients by specifically interacting with and regulating a family of CBL-interacting protein kinases (CIPKs). In this study, we report the role of Arabidopsis CBL5 gene in high salt or drought tolerance. CBL5 gene is expressed significantly in green tissues, but not in roots. CBL5 was not induced by abiotic stress conditions such as high salt, drought or low temperature. To determine whether the CBL5 gene plays a role in stress response pathways, we ectopically expressed the CBL5 protein in transgenic Arabidopsis plants (35S-CBL5) and examined plant responses to abiotic stresses. CBL5-overexpressing plants displayed enhanced tolerance to high salt or drought stress. CBL5 overexpression also rendered plants more resistant to high salt or hyperosmotic stress during early development (i.e., seed germination) but did not alter their response to abiscisic acid (ABA). Furthermore, overexpression of CBL5 alters the gene expression of stress gene markers, such as RD29A, RD29B and Kin1 etc. These results suggest that CBL5 may function as a positive regulator of salt or drought responses in plants.