Comparative Genomics of the Lipid-body-membrane Proteins Oleosin,Caleosin and Steroleosin in Magnoliophyte, Lycophyte and Bryophyte

Lipid bodies store oils in the form of triacylglycerols. Oleosin, caleosin and steroleosin are unique proteins localized on the surface of lipid bodies in seed plants. This study has identified genes encoding lipid body proteins oleosin, caleosin and steroleosin in the genomes of five plants: Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, Populus trichocarpa, Selaginella moellendorffii and Physcomitrella patens. The protein sequence alignment indicated that each oleosin protein contains a highly-conserved proline knot motif, and proline knob motif is well conserved in steroleosin proteins, while caleosin proteins possess the Dx[D/N]xDG-containing calcium-binding motifs. The identification of motifs (proline knot and knob) and conserved amino acids at active site was further supported by the sequence logos. The phylogenetic analysis revealed the presence of magnoliophyte-and bryophyte-specific subgroups. We analyzed the public microarray data for expression of oleosin, caleosin and steroleosin in Arabidopsis and rice during the vegetative and reproductive stages, or under abiotic stresses. Our results indicated that genes encoding oleosin, caleosin and steroleosin proteins were expressed predominantly in plant seeds. This work may facilitate better understanding of the members of lipid-body-membrane proteins in diverse organisms and their gene expression in model plants Arabidopsis and rice.     

New Role for an Old Rule: N-end Rule-Mediated Degradation of Ethylene Responsive Factor Proteins Governs Low Oxygen Response in Plants

The N-end rule pathway regulates protein degradation, which depends on exposed N-terminal sequences in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. In plants, conserved and specific enzymes stimulate selective proteolysis. Although a number of developmental and growth phenotypes have been reported for mutants in the N-end rule, its function has remained unrelated to specific physiological pathways. The first report of the direct involvement of the N-end rule in stress responses focused on hypoxic signaling and how the oxygen-dependent oxidation of cystein promotes the N-end rule-mediated degradation of ethylene responsive factor (ERF)-VII proteins, the master regulators of anaerobic responses. It has beensuggested that plants have evolved specific mechanisms to tune ERF-VII availability in the nucleus. In this review, we speculate that ERF-VII proteins are reversibly protected from degradation via membrane sequestration. The oxidative response in plants subjected to anoxic conditions suggests that reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species) may interact or interfere with the N-end rule pathway-mediated response to hypoxia.     

Genetic regulation of programmed cell death in Drosophila

Programmed cell death plays an important role in maintaining homeostasis during animal development,and has been conserved in animals as different as nematoes and humans. Recent studies of Drosophila have provided valuadle information toward our understanding of genetic regulation of death.Different signals trigger the novel death regulators rpr,hid,and grim,that utilize the evolutionarily conserved iap and ark genes to modulate caspase function.Subsequent removal of dying cells also appears to be accomplished by conserved mechanisms.The similarity between Drosophila and human in cell death signaling pathways illustrate the promise of fruit flies as a model system to elucidatek the mechanisms underlying regulation of programmed cell death.     

PINK1 is involved in determining the cellular autophagic hierarchy

<正>The protein PINK1 plays a crucial role in the regulation of the cellular autophagic hierarchy. Autophagy, a highly conserved biological process, serves as a mechanism for the degradation of intracellular components by lysosomes. Autophagosomes play a pivotal role in this process by selectively sequestering specific targets, including damaged organelles,protein aggregates, and pathogens.     

MORN motifs in plant PIPKs are involved in the regulation of subcellular localization and phospholipid binding

Multiple repeats of membrane occupation and recognition nexus （MORN） motifs were detected in plant phosphatidylinositl monophosphate kinase （PIPK）, a key enzyme in PI-signaling pathway. Structural analysis indicates that all the MORN motifs （with varied numbers at ranges of 7-9）, which shared high homologies to those of animal ones, were located at N-terminus and sequentially arranged, except those of OsPIPK1 and AtPIPK7, in which the last MORN motif was separated others by an -100 amino-acid ＂island＂ region, revealing the presence of two kinds of MORN arrangements in plant PIPKs. Through employing a yeast-based SMET （sequence of membrane-targeting） system, the MORN motifs were shown being able to target the fusion proteins to cell plasma membrane, which were further confirmed by expression of fused MORN-GFP proteins. Further detailed analysis via deletion studies indicated the MORN motifs in OsPIPK 1, together with the 104 amino-acid ＂island＂ region are involved in the regulation of differential subcellular localization, i.e. plasma membrane or nucleus, of the fused proteins. Fat Western blot analysis of the recombinant MORN polypeptide, expressed in Escherichia coli, showed that MORN motifs could strongly bind to PA and relatively slightly to PI4P and PI（4,5）P2. These results provide informative hints on mechanisms of subcellular localization, as well as regulation of substrate binding, of plant PIPKs.     

Non-26S Proteasome Proteolytic Role of Ubiquitin in Plant Endocytosis and Endosomal Trafficking

The 76 amino acid protein ubiquitin (Ub) is highly conserved in all eukaryotic species. It plays important roles in many cellular processes by covalently attaching to the target proteins. The best known function of Ub is marking substrate proteins for degra- dation by the 26S proteasome. In fact, other consequences of ubiquitination have been discovered in yeast and mammals, such as membrane trafficking, DNA repair, chromatin modification, and protein kinase activation. The common mechanism underlying these processes is that Ub serves as a signal to sort proteins to the vacuoles or lysosomes for degradation as opposed to 26S proteasome-dependent degradation. To date, several reports haveindicated that a similar function of Ub also exists in plants. This review focuses on a summary and analysis of the recent research progress on Ub acting as a signal to mediate endocytosis and endosomal trafficking in plants.     

Cell polarity: Regulators and mechanisms in plants

Cell polarity plays an important role in a wide range of biological processes in plant growth and development.Cell polarity is manifested as the asymmetric distribution of molecules,for example,proteins and lipids,at the plasma membrane and inside of a cell.Here,we summarize a few polarized proteins that have been characterized in plants and we review recent advances towards understanding the molecular mechanism for them to polarize at the plasma membrane.Multiple mechanisms,including membrane trafficking,cytoskeletal activities,and protein phosphorylation,and so forth define the polarized plasma membrane domains.Recent discoveries suggest that the polar positioning of the proteo-lipid membrane domain may instruct the formation of polarity complexes in plants.In this review,we highlight the factors and regulators for their functions in establishing the membrane asymmetries in plant development.Furthermore,we discuss a few outstanding questions to be addressed to better understand the mechanisms by which cell polarity is regulated in plants.     

Genome-wide Analysis of Kelch Repeat-containing F-box Family

The ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation pathway plays diverse roles in eukaryotes. Previous studies indicate that both F-box and Kelch motifs are common in a variety of organisms. F-box proteins are subunits of E3 ubiquitin ligase complexes called SCFs （SKP1, Cullinl, F-box protein, and Rbxl）; they have an N-terminal F-box motif that binds to SKP1 （S-phase kinase associated protein）, and often have C-terminal protein-protein interaction domains, which specify the protein substrates for degradation via the ubiquitin pathway. One of the most frequently found protein interaction domains in F-box proteins is the Kelch repeat domain. Although both the F-box and Kelch repeats are ancient motifs, Kelch repeats-containing F-box proteins （KFB） have only been reported for human and Arabidopsis previously. The recent sequencing of the rice genome and other plant genomes provides an opportunity to examine the possible evolution history of KFB. We carried out extensive BLAST searches to identify putative KFBs in selected organisms, and analyzed their relationships phylogenetically. We also carried out the analysis of both gene duplication and gene expression of the KFBs in rice and Arabidopsis. Our study indicates that the origin of KFBs occurs before the divergence of animals and plants, and plant KFBs underwent rapid gene duplications.     

OsFY, a Homolog of AtFY, Encodes a Protein that Can Interact with OsFCA-γ in Rice （Oryza sativa L.）

FCA and FY are flowering time related genes involved in the autonomous flowering pathwayin Arabidopsis.FCA interacts with FY to regulate the alternative processing of FCA pre-mRNA.The FCA/FY interaction is also required for the regulation of FLC expression,a major floral repressor in Arabidopsis.However,it is not clear if the regulation of this autonomous flowering pathway is also present in monocotplants,such as rice.Recently,alternative RNA processing of OsFCA was observed in rice,which stronglysuggested the existence of an autonomous flowering pathway in rice.In this work,we cloned the cDNA ofthe autonomous flowering pathway gene OsFY from rice.The predicted OsFY protein contained a conserved7 WD-repeat region and at least two Pro-Pro-Leu-Pro motifs compared to Arabidopsis FY.The protein-protein interaction between OsFY and OsFCA-γ,the key feature of their gene function,was also demon-strated using the yeast two-hybrid system.The GenBank database search provided evidence of expressionfor other autonomous pathway gene homologs in rice.These results indicate that the autonomous floweringpathway is present in monocots,and the regulation through FY and FCA interaction is conserved betweenmonocots and dicots.     

Arabidopsis Protein Phosphatase 2C ABI1 Interacts with Type I ACC Synthases and Is Involved in the Regulation of Ozone-Induced Ethylene Biosynthesis

Ethylene plays a crucial role in various biological processes and therefore its biosynthesis is strictly regu- lated by multiple mechanisms. Posttranslational regulation, which is pivotal in controlling ethylene biosynthesis, impacts 1-aminocyclopropane 1-carboxylate synthase （ACS） protein stability via the complex interplay of specific factors. Here, we show that the Arabidopsis thaliana protein phosphatase type 2C, ABI1, a negative regulator of abscisic acid signaling, is involved in the regulation of ethylene biosynthesis under oxidative stress conditions. We found that ABI1 interacts with ACS6 and dephosphorylates its C-terminal fragment, a target of the stress-responsive mitogen-activated protein kinase, MPK6. In addition, ABI1 controls MPK6 activity directly and by this means also affects the ACS6 phosphorylation level. Consistently with this, ozone-induced ethylene production was significantly higher in an ABI1 knockout strain （abiltd） than in wild-type plants. Importantly, an increase in stress-induced ethylene production in the abiltd mutant was compen- sated by a higher ascorbate redox state and elevated antioxidant activities. Overall, the results of this study provide evi- dence that ABI1 restricts ethylene synthesis by affecting the activity of ACS6. The ABI1 contribution to stress phenotype underpins its role in the interplay between the abscisic acid （ABA） and ethylene signaling pathways.     

Expression and localization of VCX／Y proteins and their possible in-volvement in regulation of ribosome assembly during spermatogenesis

Variable Charge X/Y (VCX/Y) is a human testis-specific gene family that localized on X and Y chromo-somes. In this study, VCY protein was expressed in E. coli in the form of glutathione-S-transferase (GST)fusion protein. With the purified fusion protein as antigen, the anti-GST-VCY antibody was generated andthe localization of VCY protein in human testis was determined by immunohistochemistry. In the testisseminiferous epithelium, VCY proteins were highly expressed in nuclei of germ cells. Using propidium io-dide staining and green fluorescent protein (GFP) tag technologies, VCY and VCX-8r proteins were mainlylocalized in the nucleoli of COS7 cells. In addition, the colocalization for VCY and VCX-8r in COS7 cellswas also observed. With VCY cDNA as bait, a cDNA fragment of acidic ribosomal protein PO was obtainedusing yeast two-hybrid system. All the information above indicates that VCX/Y protein family might beinvolved in the regulation of ribosome assembly during spermatogenesis.