A new <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis> deletion mutant <Emphasis Type="Italic">apetala1-20</Emphasis>

A new deletion allele of the APETALA1 (AP1) gene encoding a type II MADS-box protein with the key role in the initiation of flowering and development of perianth organs has been identified in A. thaliana. The deletion of seven amino acids in the conserved region of the K domain in the ap1-20 mutant considerably delayed flowering and led to a less pronounced abnormality in the corolla development compared to the weak ap1-3 and intermediate ap1-6 alleles. At the same time, a considerable stamen reduction has been revealed in ap1-20 as distinct from ap1-3 and ap1-6 alleles. These data indicate that the K domain of AP1 can be crucial for the initiation of flowering and expression regulation of B-class genes controlling stamen development.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">ZWILLE</Emphasis> buffers meristem stability in<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis>

The shoot apical meristem of higher plants consists of a population of stem cells at the tip of the plant body that continuously gives rise to organs such as leaves and flowers. Cells that leave the meristem differentiate and must be replaced to maintain the integrity of the meristem. The balance between differentiation and maintenance is governed both by the environment and the developmental status of the plant. In order to respond to these different stimuli, the meristem has to be plastic thus ensuring the stereotypic shape of the plant body. Meristem plasticity requires the ZWILLE (ZLL) gene. In zll mutant embryos, the apical cells are misspecified causing a variability of the meristems size and function. Using specific antibodies against ZLL, we show that the zll phenotype is due to the complete absence of the ZLL protein. In immunohistochemical experiments we confirm the observation that ZLL is solely localized in vascular tissue. For a better understanding of the role of ZLL in meristem stability, we analysed the genetic interactions of ZLL with WUSCHEL (WUS) and the CLAVATA1, 2 and 3 (CLV) genes that are involved in size regulation of the meristem. In a zll loss-of-function background wus has a negative effect whereas clv mutations have a positive effect on meristem size. We propose that ZLL buffers meristem stability non-cell-autonomously by ensuring the critical number of apical cells required for proper meristem function.Edited by G. JürgensAn erratum to this article can be found at     

Endogenous protein mono-ADP-ribosylation in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis>

Protein mono-ADP-ribosylation post-translationally transfers the ADP-ribose moiety from the β-NAD⁺ donor to various protein acceptors. This type of modification has been widely characterized and shown to regulate protein activities in animals, yeast and prokaryotes, but has never been reported in plants. In this study, using [³²P]NAD⁺ as the substrate, ADP-ribosylated proteins in Arabidopsis were investigated. One protein substrate of 32 kDa in adult rosette leaves was found to be radiolabeled. Heat treatment, protease sensitivity and nucleotide derivative competition assays suggested a covalent reaction of NAD⁺ with the 32 kDa protein. [carbonyl-¹⁴C]NAD⁺ could not label the 32 kDa protein, confirming that the modification was ADP-ribosylation. Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor failed to suppress the reaction, but chemicals that destroy mono-ADP-ribosylation on specific amino acid residues could break up the linkage, suggesting that the reaction was not a poly-ADP-ribosylation but rather a mono-ADP-ribosylation. This modification mainly existed in leaves and was enhanced by oxidative stresses. In young seedlings, two more protein substrates with the size of 45 kDa and over 130 kDa, respectively, were observed in addition to the 32 kDa protein, indicating that different proteins were modified at different developmental stages. Although the substrate proteins remain to be identified, this is the first report on the characterization of endogenously mono-ADP-ribosylated proteins in plants.     

Over-Expression of <Emphasis Type="Italic">PmHSP17.9</Emphasis> in Transgenic <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis> Confers Thermotolerance

Small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) have been shown to be involved in stress tolerance. However, their functions in Prunus mume under heat treatment are poorly characterized. To improve our understanding of sHSPs, we cloned a sHSP gene, PmHSP17.9, from P. mume. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis indicated that PmHSP17.9 was a member of plant cytosolic class III sHSPs. Besides heat stress, PmHSP17.9 was also upregulated by salt, dehydration, oxidative stresses and ABA treatment. Leaves of transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana that ectopically express PmHSP17.9 accumulated less O₂ ^? and H₂O₂ compared with wild type (WT) after 42 °C treatment for 6 h. Over-expression of PmHSP17.9 in transgenic Arabidopsis enhanced seedling thermotolerance by decreased relative electrolyte leakage and MDA content under heat stress treatment when compared to WT plants. In addition, the induced expression of HSP101, HSFA2, and delta 1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase (P5CS) under heat stress was more pronounced in transgenic plants than in WT plants. These results support the positive role of PmHSP17.9 in response to heat stress treatment.     

Increase in Salt Tolerance of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis> by <Emphasis Type="Italic">TaDi19</Emphasis>

The gene expression profile chip of salt-resistant wheat mutant RH8706-49 under salt stress was investigated. The overall length of the cDNA sequence of the probe was obtained using electronic cloning and RT-PCR. An unknown gene induced by salt was obtained, cloned, and named TaDi19 (Triticum aestivum drought-induced protein). No related report or research on the protein is available. qPCR analysis showed that gene expression was induced by many stresses, such as salt. Arabidopsis thaliana was genetically transferred using the overexpressing gene, which increased its salt tolerance. After salt stress, the transgenic plant demonstrated better physiological indicators (higher Ca²⁺ and lower Na⁺) than those of the wild-type plant. Results of non-invasive micro-test technology indicate that TaDi19-overexpressing A. thaliana significantly effluxed Na⁺ after salt treatment, whereas the wild-type plant influxed Na⁺. Chelating extracellular Ca²⁺ resulted in insignificant differences in salt tolerance between overexpressing and wild-type A. thaliana. Subcellular localization showed that the gene encoding protein was mainly located in the cell membrane and nucleus. TaDi19 was overexpressed in wild-type A. thaliana, and the transgenic lines were more salt-tolerant than the control A. thaliana. Thus, the wheat gene TaDi19 could increase the salt tolerance of A. thaliana.     

Strong Expression and Conserved Regulation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">ACT2</Emphasis> in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Physcomitrella patens</Emphasis>

Arabidopsis ACT2 represents an ancient class of vegetative plant actins and is strongly and constitutively expressed in almost all Arabidopsis sporophyte vegetative tissues. Using the beta glucuronidase report system, the studies showed that ACT2 5′ regulatory region was significantly more active than CaMV 35S promoter in Arabidopsis seedlings and gametophyte vegetative tissues of Physcomitrella patens. Its activity was also observed in rice and maize seedlings. Thus, the ACT2 5′ regulatory region could potentially serve as a strong regulator to express a transgene in divergent plant species. ACT2 5′ regulatory region contained 15 conserved sequence elements, an ancient intron in its 5′ un-translated region (5′ UTR), and a purine-rich stretch followed by a pyrimidine-rich stretch (PuPy). Mutagenesis and deletion analysis illustrated that some of the conserved sequence elements and the region containing PuPy sequences played regulatory roles in Arabidopsis. Interestingly, mutation of the conserved elements did not lead a dramatic change in the activity of ACT2 5′ regulatory region. The ancient intron in ACT2 5′ UTR was required for its strong expression in both Arabidopsis and P. patens, but did not fully function as a canonical intron. Thus, it was likely that some of the conserved sequence elements and gene structures had been preserved in ACT2 5′ regulatory region over the course of land plant evolution partly due to their functional importance. The studies provided additional evidences that identification of evolutionarily conserved features in non-coding region might be used as an efficient strategy to predict gene regulatory elements.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis> outer ovule integument morphogenesis: Ectopic expression of <Emphasis Type="Italic">KNAT1</Emphasis>reveals a compensation mechanism

Background  

The Arabidopsis outer ovule integument is a simple two-cell layered structure that grows around the developing embryo and develops into the outer layer of the seed coat. As one of the functions of the seed coat is the protection of the plant embryo, the outer ovule integument is an example for a plant organ whose morphogenesis has to be precisely regulated.     

Novel<Emphasis Type="Italic"> eceriferum</Emphasis> mutants in<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis>

We conducted a novel non-visual screen for cuticular wax mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. Using gas chromatography we screened over 1,200 ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS)-mutagenized lines for alterations in the major A. thaliana wild-type stem cuticular chemicals. Five lines showed distinct differences from the wild type and were further analyzed by gas chromatography and scanning electron microscopy. The five mutants were mapped to specific chromosome locations and tested for allelism with other wax mutant loci mapping to the same region. Toward this end, the mapping of the cuticular wax (cer) mutants cer10 to cer20 was conducted to allow more efficient allelism tests with newly identified lines. From these five lines, we have identified three mutants defining novel genes that have been designated CER22, CER23, and CER24. Detailed stem and leaf chemistry has allowed us to place these novel mutants in specific steps of the cuticular wax biosynthetic pathway and to make hypotheses about the function of their gene products.Abbreviations EMS Ethyl methane sulfonate - SEM Scanning electron microscopy - SSLP Simple sequence length polymorphism - WT Wild type     

Genetic and environmental control of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Verticillium</Emphasis> syndrome in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis>

Background  

Verticillium spp. are major pathogens of dicotyledonous plants such as cotton, tomato, olive or oilseed rape. Verticillium symptoms are often ambiguous and influenced by development and environment. The aim of the present study was to define disease and resistance traits of the complex Verticillium longisporum syndrome in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. A genetic approach was used to determine genetic, developmental and environmental factors controlling specific disease and resistance traits and to study their interrelations.     

A loss-of-function mutation in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Calmodulin2</Emphasis> gene affects pollen germination in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis>

Calmodulin (CAM) is an ubiquitous calcium binding protein whose function is to translate the signals, perceived as calcium concentration variations, into the appropriate cellular responses. In Arabidopsis thaliana there are 4 CAM isoforms which are highly similar, encoded by 7 genes, and one possible explanation proposed for the evolutionary conservation of the CAM gene family is that the different genes have acquired different functions so that they play possibly overlapping but non-identical roles. Here we report the characterization of the Arabidopsis mutant cam2-2, identified among the lines of the gene-trapping collection EXOTIC because of a distorted segregation of kanamycin resistance. Phenotypic analysis showed that in normal growth conditions cam2-2 plants were indistinguishable from the wild type while genetic analysis showed a reduced transmission of the cam2-2 allele through the male gametophyte and in vitro pollen germination revealed a reduced level of germination in comparison with the wild type. These results provide genetic evidence of the involvement of a CAM gene in pollen germination and support the theory of functional diversification of the CAM gene family.     

Acclimation of photosynthesis to temperature in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Brassica oleracea</Emphasis>

Plants differ in how much the response of net photosynthetic rate (P _N) to temperature (T) changes with the T during leaf development, and also in the biochemical basis of such changes in response. The amount of photosynthetic acclimation to T and the components of the photosynthetic system involved were compared in Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica oleracea to determine how well A. thaliana might serve as a model organism to study the process of photosynthetic acclimation to T. Responses of single-leaf gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence to CO₂ concentration measured over the range of 10–35 °C for both species grown at 15, 21, and 27 °C were used to determine the T dependencies of maximum rates of carboxylation (V_Cmax), photosynthetic electron transport (J_max), triose phosphate utilization rate (TPU), and mesophyll conductance to carbon dioxide (g’_m). In A. thaliana, the optimum T of P _N at air concentrations of CO₂ was unaffected by this range of growth T, and the T dependencies of V_Cmax, J_max, and g’_m were also unaffected by growth T. There was no evidence of TPU limitation of P _N in this species over the range of measurement conditions. In contrast, the optimum T of P _N increased with growth T in B. oleracea, and the T dependencies of V_Cmax, J_max, and g’_m, as well as the T at which TPU limited P _N all varied significantly with growth T. Thus B. oleracea had much a larger capacity to acclimate photosynthetically to moderate T than did A. thaliana.     

Genome-wide comparative analysis of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">IQD</Emphasis> gene families in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Oryza sativa</Emphasis>

Background  

Calcium signaling plays a prominent role in plants for coordinating a wide range of developmental processes and responses to environmental cues. Stimulus-specific generation of intracellular calcium transients, decoding of calcium signatures, and transformation of the signal into cellular responses are integral modules of the transduction process. Several hundred proteins with functions in calcium signaling circuits have been identified, and the number of downstream targets of calcium sensors is expected to increase. We previously identified a novel, calmodulin-binding nuclear protein, IQD1, which stimulates glucosinolate accumulation and plant defense in Arabidopsis thaliana. Here, we present a comparative genome-wide analysis of a new class of putative calmodulin target proteins in Arabidopsis and rice.     

Early stages of leaf development in <Emphasis Type="Italic">has</Emphasis> mutant of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis>

The elucidation of molecular mechanisms underlying the leaf development can be facilitated by the detailed anatomical study of leaf development mutants. We present an analysis of leaf anatomy and morphogenesis during early developmental stages in has mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana. The recessive has mutation affects a number of aspects in plant development, including the shape and size of both cotyledons and leaves. The earliest developmental observations suggest almost synchronous growth of the first two leaf primordia of has mutant. No significant disruption of the cell division pattern in the internal tissue is observed at the earliest stages of development, with the major anatomical difference compared to wild type primordia being the untimely maturation of mesophyll tissue cells in has mutant. At the stage of leaf blade formation, structure disruption becomes clearly evident, by irregular arrangement of the cell layers and the lack of polarity in juvenile has leaves. One distinguishing feature of the mutant leaf anatomy is the absence of mesophyll tissue differentiation. Altered has mutant leaf morphology could be at least partially accounted for by the ectopic STM activity that was found at the base of leaf primordia during early stages of leaf development in has plants.     

A meiotic time-course for<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis>

A meiotic time-course for Arabidopsis pollen mother cells has been established based on BrdU pulse-labelling of nuclear DNA in the meiotic S-phase. Labelled flower buds were sampled at intervals and the progress of labelled cells through meiosis assessed by anti-BrdU antibody detection. The overall duration of meiosis from the end of meiotic S-phase to the tetrad stage, at 18.5°C, was 33 h, which is about three times longer than the mitotic cell cycle in seedlings. The onset of leptotene was defined by reference to the loading of the axis-associated protein Asy1, and this permitted the detection of a definite G2 stage, having a maximum duration of 9 h. It is likely, from two independent sources of evidence, that the meiotic S-phase has a duration similar to that of G2. The durations of leptotene and zygotene/pachytene are 6 h and 15.3 h, respectively, but the remaining meiotic division stages are completed very rapidly, within 3 h. The establishment of a meiotic time-course provides a framework for determining the relative timing and durations of key molecular events of meiosis in Arabidopsis in relation to cytologically defined landmarks. In addition, it will be important in a broader developmental context for determining the timing of epigenetic mechanisms that are known or suspected to occur during meiosis.     

Metabolic compensation in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis> catalase-deficient mutants

Multigenic families are widely represented in the genomes of higher plants, and are required for the reliability of cellular functions. Damage of individual genes can be compensated by diverse metabolic alterations, but the exact mechanisms of such compensations still remain not fully understood. Here we present novel data regarding the mechanisms of metabolic compensation in photorespiratory knock-out mutants cat2, cat3 and cat2cat3 of Arabidopsis thaliana, which are lacking activity of catalase isoforms CAT2 and CAT3. It was found that cultivation of the mutants under low light at optimal or increased temperature did not result in any morphological, physiological or biochemical signs of oxidative stress. Each of the mutant lines shows specific features of the compensatory mechanisms. Increased activity of CAT3 isoenzyme was found in the cat2 mutant, whereas cat3 and cat2cat3 demonstrate induction of CAT1, an isoform normally absent in young leaves, as well as activation of peroxidases, namely APX and POD. Comparison of these results and earlier published data revealed that the lack of CAT2 and CAT3 isoforms is compensated by preferential activation of non-enzymatic and enzymatic protection mechanisms, respectively.