Effects of Heat Shock on Photosynthetic Properties,Antioxidant Enzyme Activity,and Downy Mildew of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)

Heat shock is considered an abiotic stress for plant growth, but the effects of heat shock on physiological responses of cucumber plant leaves with and without downy mildew disease are still not clear. In this study, cucumber seedlings were exposed to heat shock in greenhouses, and the responses of photosynthetic properties, carbohydrate metabolism, antioxidant enzyme activity, osmolytes, and disease severity index of leaves with or without the downy mildew disease were measured. Results showed that heat shock significantly decreased the net photosynthetic rate, actual photochemical efficiency, photochemical quenching coefficient, and starch content. Heat shock caused an increase in the stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, antioxidant enzyme activities, total soluble sugar content, sucrose content, soluble protein content and proline content for both healthy leaves and downy mildew infected leaves. These results demonstrate that heat shock activated the transpiration pathway to protect the photosystem from damage due to excess energy in cucumber leaves. Potential resistance mechanisms of plants exposed to heat stress may involve higher osmotic regulation capacity related to an increase of total accumulations of soluble sugar, proline and soluble protein, as well as higher antioxidant enzymes activity in stressed leaves. Heat shock reduced downy mildew disease severity index by more than 50%, and clearly alleviated downy mildew development in the greenhouses. These findings indicate that cucumber may have a complex physiological change to resist short-term heat shock, and suppress the development of the downy mildew disease.     

Molecular cloning of a cDNA encoding a high mobility group protein in Cucumis sativus and its expression by abiotic stress treatments

A cDNA encoding a high mobility group B (HMGB) protein was isolated from Cucumis sativus and characterized with respect to its sequence, expression and responses to various abiotic stress treatments. The predicted polypeptide of 146 amino acid residues contains characteristic features of HMGB family proteins including the N-terminal basic region, one HMG-box and a stretch of acidic amino acid residues at the C-terminus. In vitro nucleic acid-binding assay revealed that the HMGB protein bound to both single-stranded DNA and double-stranded DNA. DNA gel blot analysis indicated that the HMGB gene is a single copy gene in cucumber genome. RNA gel blot analysis showed that the cucumber HMGB was more abundantly expressed in the roots than in shoots and leaves. Various abiotic stresses, including cold, drought and high salinity, down regulated markedly the expression of the HMGB in cucumber. The present report identifies a novel gene encoding HMGB protein in cucumber that shows a significant response to abiotic stress treatments.     

Identification and characterization of potential NBS-encoding resistance genes and induction kinetics of a putative candidate gene associated with downy mildew resistance in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cucumis</Emphasis>

Background  

Due to the variation and mutation of the races of Pseudoperonospora cubensis, downy mildew has in recent years become the most devastating leaf disease of cucumber worldwide. Novel resistance to downy mildew has been identified in the wild Cucumis species, C. hystrix Chakr. After the successful hybridization between C. hystrix and cultivated cucumber (C. sativus L.), an introgression line (IL5211S) was identified as highly resistant to downy mildew. Nucleotide-binding site and leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) genes are the largest class of disease resistance genes cloned from plant with highly conserved domains, which can be used to facilitate the isolation of candidate genes associated with downy mildew resistance in IL5211S.     

寡雄腐霉施用时期对设施黄瓜霜霉病的防治试验

寡雄腐霉是一种对多种植物病害有很好防治效果的新型生物农药。本文通过田间试验明确了寡雄腐霉在黄瓜霜霉病不同发病时期使用时的防治效果。结果表明,寡雄腐霉对黄瓜霜霉病预防效果达到68.9%,发病初期防治效果达到61.9%,发病后期防治效果只有23.5%。因此,在使用寡雄腐霉防治黄瓜霜霉病时一定要在未发病或发病早期使用才能达到理想的防病效果。     

黄瓜霜霉病抗性相关基因的AFLP标记

运用AFLP技术,采用集群分析法研究与黄瓜霜霉病抗性基因相关的分子标记.结果表明,在F2群体中E25M63-103标记与霜霉病病情指数的相关系数(0.337)和回归分析的F值(20.98)都达到了极显著水平.用E25M63-103标记对国内外的其它27份黄瓜材料进行检测,该标记与霜霉病病情指数的相关系数为0.555,也达到极显著相关水平,进一步证明该标记与控制黄瓜霜霉病感病的相关基因是连锁的.E25M63-103片段长度为103 bp,通过BLAST查询,该片段的同源性较小,表明E25M63-103标记可能是黄瓜基因组特有的一段DNA序列.     

Accumulation of stress-proteins in intercellular spaces of barley leaves induced by biotic and abiotic factors

Accumulation of the extracellular proteins localized in intercellular spaces of barley primary leaves was examined after inoculation with powdery mildew (Erysiphe graminis f. sp. hordei) as biotic stress factor and after abiotic stresses such as heat shock, low temperature and heavy metal (Mg,Zn, Cu, Al, Cd and Co) treatment using native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Six to eight major pathogen-induced proteins (bands on native gel) have been identified. Their accumulation at host-parasite incompatibility was more expressive than at compatibility interaction. Elevated temperature did not induce pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins while low temperature induced three of them. Cu, Al, Cd and Co induced accumulation pattern of extracellular proteins was very similar to that in powdery mildew inoculated leaves. Mg and Zn had no effect on the induction of protein accumulation in the intercellular spaces of leaves. Induction of PR proteins by different stresses indicated their general function in the resistance of plants to changing environment. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Methylglyoxal detoxification by a DJ-1 family protein provides dual abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in transgenic plants

Methylglyoxal (MG) is a key signaling molecule resulting from glycolysis and other metabolic pathways. During abiotic stress, MG levels accumulate to toxic levels in affected cells. However, MG is routinely detoxified through the action of DJ1/PARK7/Hsp31 proteins that are highly conserved across kingdoms and mutations in such genes are associated with neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we report for the first time that, similar to abiotic stresses, MG levels increase during biotic stresses in plants, likely contributing to enhanced susceptibility to a wide range of stresses. We show that overexpression of yeast Heat shock protein 31 (Hsp31), a DJ-1 homolog with robust MG detoxifying capabilities, confers dual biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in model plant Nicotiana tabacum. Strikingly, overexpression of Hsp31 in tobacco imparts robust stress tolerance against diverse biotic stress inducers such as viruses, bacteria and fungi, in addition to tolerance against a range of abiotic stress inducers. During stress, Hsp31 was targeted to mitochondria and induced expression of key stress-related genes. These results indicate that Hsp31 is a novel attractive tool to engineer plants against both biotic and abiotic stresses.     

Genome-wide identification and characterisation of F-box family in maize

F-box-containing proteins, as the key components of the protein degradation machinery, are widely distributed in higher plants and are considered as one of the largest known families of regulatory proteins. The F-box protein family plays a crucial role in plant growth and development and in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, systematic analysis of the F-box family in maize (Zea mays) has not been reported yet. In this paper, we identified and characterised the maize F-box genes in a genome-wide scale, including phylogenetic analysis, chromosome distribution, gene structure, promoter analysis and gene expression profiles. A total of 359 F-box genes were identified and divided into 15 subgroups by phylogenetic analysis. The F-box domain was relatively conserved, whereas additional motifs outside the F-box domain may indicate the functional diversification of maize F-box genes. These genes were unevenly distributed in ten maize chromosomes, suggesting that they expanded in the maize genome because of tandem and segmental duplication events. The expression profiles suggested that the maize F-box genes had temporal and spatial expression patterns. Putative cis-acting regulatory DNA elements involved in abiotic stresses were observed in maize F-box gene promoters. The gene expression profiles under abiotic stresses also suggested that some genes participated in stress responsive pathways. Furthermore, ten genes were chosen for quantitative real-time PCR analysis under drought stress and the results were consistent with the microarray data. This study has produced a comparative genomics analysis of the maize ZmFBX gene family that can be used in further studies to uncover their roles in maize growth and development.     

黄瓜霜霉病及寄主抗性机制研究进展

在黄瓜生产中,由古巴假霜霉菌(Pseudoperonospora cubensis)引起的霜霉病危害严重,影响叶、茎和花序生长发育,导致黄瓜产量及品质降低。通过对黄瓜霜霉病的病原菌检测和防御途径、影响及调控因素、抗病原菌候选基因发掘、蛋白质组和基因组分析、黄瓜霜霉病QTL连锁标记开发及其抗病育种等多方面的最新进展进行综述,以期为今后进一步揭示黄瓜乃至农作物对霜霉病的抗性机制研究提供借鉴和参考。     

高温处理防治黄瓜霜霉病的生理生化机制

以黄瓜感病品种‘长春密刺’为试材,通过室内盆栽试验研究高温对已感染霜霉病菌的黄瓜幼苗生理生化特征的影响.结果显示:(1)在黄瓜幼苗接种霜霉菌后8h,用45℃高温处理90min防治效果最明显.(2)与只接种霜霉病菌的黄瓜幼苗相比,接种霜霉菌后进行高温处理可显著提高叶片叶绿素含量,降低丙二醛含量;与对照相比,接种霜霉菌后进行高温处理可显著提高叶片几丁质酶活性,Western blotting验证了几丁质酶的活性变化.(3)SDS-PAGE结果表明,霜霉菌侵染可诱导一种28kD蛋白表达,高温处理后28kD蛋白的表达量降低.研究结果表明高温处理可能在杀死病原菌的同时,还诱导黄瓜幼苗对霜霉病产生了部分抗性.     

Overexpression of Small Heat Shock Protein LimHSP16.45 in Arabidopsis Enhances Tolerance to Abiotic Stresses

Small heat shock proteins (smHSPs) play important and extensive roles in plant defenses against abiotic stresses. We cloned a gene for a smHSP from the David Lily (Lilium davidii (E. H. Wilson) Raffill var. Willmottiae), which we named LimHSP16.45 based on its protein molecular weight. Its expression was induced by many kinds of abiotic stresses in both the lily and transgenic plants of Arabidopsis. Heterologous expression enhanced cell viability of the latter under high temperatures, high salt, and oxidative stress, and heat shock granules (HSGs) formed under heat or salinity treatment. Assays of enzymes showed that LimHSP16.45 overexpression was related to greater activity by superoxide dismutase and catalase in transgenic lines. Therefore, we conclude that heterologous expression can protect plants against abiotic stresses by preventing irreversible protein aggregation, and by scavenging cellular reactive oxygen species.     

Characterization of calnexin in soybean roots and hypocotyls under osmotic stress

Calnexin is an endoplasmic reticulum-localized molecular chaperone protein which is involved in folding and quality control of proteins. To evaluate the expression of calnexin in soybean seedlings under osmotic stress, immunoblot analysis was performed using a total membrane protein fraction. Calnexin constantly accumulated at an early growth stage of soybean under normal growth conditions. Expression of this protein decreased in 14-day-old soybean roots when treated with 10% polyethylene glycol for 2 days. Other abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, cold as well as abscisic acid treatment, similarly reduced accumulation of calnexin and this reduction was correlated with reduction in root length in soybean seedlings under abiotic stresses. When compared between soybean and rice, calnexin expression was not changed in rice under abiotic stresses. Using Flag-tagged calnexin, a 70 kDa heat shock cognate protein was identified as an interacting protein. These results suggest that osmotic or other abiotic stresses highly reduce accumulation of the calnexin protein in developing soybean roots. It is also suggested that calnexin interacts with a 70 kDa heat shock cognate protein and probably functions as molecular chaperone in soybean.     

Genome-wide survey of the RIP domain family in Oryza sativa and their expression profiles under various abiotic and biotic stresses

Ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) are N-glycosidases that inhibit protein synthesis by depurinating rRNA. Despite their identification more than 25 years ago, little is known about their biological functions. Here, we report a genome-wide identification of the RIP family in rice based on the complete genome sequence analysis. Our data show that rice genome encodes at least 31 members of this family and they all belong to type 1 RIP genes. This family might have evolved in parallel to species evolution and genome-wide duplications represent the major mechanism for this family expansion. Subsequently, we analyzed their expression under biotic (bacteria and fungus infection), abiotic (cold, drought and salinity) and the phytohormone ABA treatment. These data showed that some members of this family were expressed in various tissues with differentiated expression abundances whereas several members showed no expression under normal growth conditions or various environmental stresses. On the other hand, the expression of many RIP members was regulated by various abiotic and biotic stresses. All these data suggested that specific members of the RIP family in rice might play important roles in biotic and abiotic stress-related biological processes and function as a regulator of various environmental cues and hormone signaling. They may be potentially useful in improving plant tolerance to various abiotic and biotic stresses by over-expressing or suppressing these genes.     

Genome-scale identification of MLO domain-containing genes in soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.)

In plants, powdery-mildew-resistance locus o (Mlo) genes encode proteins that are calmodulin-binding proteins involved in a variety of cellular processes. However, systematic characterization of this gene family in soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) has not been yet reported. In this study, we identified MLO domain-contained members in soybean and examined their expression under phytohormone treatment and abiotic stress conditions. A total of 20 soybean Mlo genes were identified (GmMlo1-20), which are distributed on 13 chromosomes, and display diverse exon-intron structures. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the Mlo family can be classified into four subfamilies. Sequence comparison was used to reveal the conserved calmodulin-binding domain (CaMBD) in GmMLO proteins. The expression of GmMlo genes was influenced by various phytohormone treatments and abiotic stresses, suggesting that these Mlo genes have various roles in the response of soybean to environmental stimuli. Promoter sequence analysis revealed an overabundance of stress and/or phytohormone-related cis-elements in GmMlo genes. These data provide important clues for elucidating the functions of genes of the Mlo gene family.     

番茄LeCIPK3的克隆及非生物胁迫诱导的表达分析

CIPK是植物钙感受器蛋白钙调磷酸酶B类似蛋白特定靶向的一类丝氨酸/苏氨酸蛋白激酶。采用同源基因克隆法,在番茄叶中克隆了一个与AtCIPK3处于同一亚组的基因,命名为LeCIPK3。表达分析表明,LeCIPK3主要在根和花中表达,在叶中的表达受脱落酸、聚乙二醇及低温的诱导,可能在番茄多种胁迫抗性中起重要作用。