41 research outputs found
An Arabidopsis mutant resistant to thaxtomin A, a cellulose synthesis inhibitor from Streptomyces species.
No full textHypoxia responsive gene expression is mediated by various subsets of transcription factors and miRNAs that are determined by the actual oxygen availability
No full textReduced oxygen availability is not only associated with flooding, but occurs also during growth and development. It is largely unknown how hypoxia is perceived and what signaling cascade is involved in activating adaptive responses. • We analysed the expression of over 1900 transcription factors (TFs) and 180 microRNA primary transcripts (pri-miRNAs) in Arabidopsis roots exposed to different hypoxic conditions by means of quantitative PCR. We also analysed the promoters of genes induced by hypoxia with respect to over-represented DNA elements that can act as potential TF binding sites and their in vivo interaction was verified. • We identified various subsets of TFs that responded differentially through time and in an oxygen concentration-dependent manner. The regulatory potential of selected TFs and their predicted DNA binding elements was validated. Although the expression of pri-miRNAs was differentially regulated under hypoxia, only one corresponding mature miRNA changed accordingly. Putative target transcripts of the miRNAs were not significantly affected. • Our results show that the regulation of hypoxia-induced genes is controlled via simultaneous interaction of various combinations of TFs. Under anoxic conditions, an additional set of TFs is induced. Regulation of gene expression via miRNAs appears to play a minor role during hypoxia
Integrative analyses of genetic variation in enzyme activities of primary carbohydrate metabolism reveal distinct modes of regulation in Arabidopsis thaliana
No full textBackground Plant primary carbohydrate metabolism is complex and flexible, and is regulated at many levels. Changes of transcript levels do not always lead to changes in enzyme activities, and these do not always affect metabolite levels and fluxes. To analyze interactions between these three levels of function, we have performed parallel genetic analyses of 15 enzyme activities involved in primary carbohydrate metabolism, transcript levels for their encoding structural genes, and a set of relevant metabolites. Quantitative analyses of each trait were performed in the Arabidopsis thaliana Ler × Cvi recombinant inbred line (RIL) population and subjected to correlation and quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis. Results Traits affecting primary metabolism were often correlated, possibly due to developmental control affecting multiple genes, enzymes, or metabolites. Moreover, the activity QTLs of several enzymes co-localized with the expression QTLs (eQTLs) of their structural genes, or with metabolite accumulation QTLs of their substrates or products. In addition, many trait-specific QTLs were identified, revealing that there is also specific regulation of individual metabolic traits. Regulation of enzyme activities often occurred through multiple loci, involving both cis- and trans-acting transcriptional or post-transcriptional control of structural genes, as well as independently of the structural genes. Conclusion Future studies of the regulatory processes in primary carbohydrate metabolism will benefit from an integrative genetic analysis of gene transcription, enzyme activity, and metabolite content. The multiparallel QTL analyses of the various interconnected transducers of biological information flow, described here for the first time, can assist in determining the causes and consequences of genetic regulation at different levels of complex biological system
Phospholipase C5 (NPC5) is involved in galactolipid accumulation during phosphate limitation in leaves of Arabidopsis.
No full text[[sponsorship]]植物暨微生物學研究所[[note]]已出版;[SCI];有審查制度;具代表性[[note]]http://gateway.isiknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Drexel&SrcApp=hagerty_opac&KeyRecord=0960-7412&DestApp=JCR&RQ=IF_CAT_BOXPLOT[[note]]http://gateway.isiknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=RID&SrcApp=RID&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&KeyUT=00025952670000
Next generation systemic acquired resistance
No full textSystemic acquired resistance (SAR) is a plant immune response to pathogen attack. Recent evidence suggests that plant immunity involves regulation by chromatin remodeling and DNA methylation. We have investigated whether SAR can be inherited epigenetically following disease pressure by Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (PstDC3000). Compared to progeny from control-treated Arabidopsis (C1), progeny from PstDC3000-inoculated Arabidopsis (P1) were primed to activate salicylic acid (SA)-inducible defense genes and were more resistant to the (hemi-)biotrophic pathogens Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis and PstDC3000. This trans-generational SAR was sustained over one stress-free generation, indicating an epigenetic basis of the phenomenon. Furthermore, P1 progeny displayed reduced responsiveness of jasmonic acid (JA)-inducible genes and enhanced susceptibility to the necrotrophic fungus Alternaria brassicicola. This shift in SA- and JA-dependent gene responsiveness was not associated with changes in corresponding hormone levels. Instead, chromatin-immunoprecipitation analyses revealed that SA-inducible promoters of PR-1, WRKY6 and WRKY53 in P1 plants are enriched with acetylated histone H3 at lysine9, a chromatin mark associated with a permissive state of transcription. Conversely, the JA-inducible PDF1.2 promoter showed increased H3 triple-methylation at lysine27, a mark related to repressed gene transcription. P1 progeny from the defense regulatory mutant npr1-1 failed to develop trans-generational defense phenotypes, demonstrating a critical role for NPR1 in expression of trans-generational SAR. Furthermore, the drm1drm2cmt3 mutant that is affected in non-CpG DNA methylation mimicked the trans-generational SAR phenotype. Since PstDC3000 induces DNA hypomethylation in Arabidopsis, our results suggest that trans-generational SAR is transmitted by hypomethylated genes that direct priming of SA-dependent defenses in following generations
Acclimation responses of Arabidopsis thaliana to sustained phosphite treatments
No full textPhosphite () induces a range of physiological and developmental responses in plants by disturbing the homeostasis of the macronutrient phosphate. Because of its close structural resemblance to phosphate, phosphite impairs the sensing, membrane transport, and subcellular compartmentation of phosphate. In addition, phosphite induces plant defence responses by an as yet unknown mode of action. In this study, the acclimation of Arabidopsis thaliana plants to a sustained phosphite supply in the growth medium was investigated and compared with plants growing under varying phosphate supplies. Unlike phosphate, phosphite did not suppress the formation of lateral roots in several Arabidopsis accessions. In addition, the expression of well-documented phosphate-starvation-induced genes, such as miRNA399d and At4, was not repressed by phosphite accumulation, whilst the induction of PHT1;1 and PAP1 was accentuated. Thus, a mimicking of phosphate by phosphite was not observed for these classical phosphate-starvation responses. Metabolomic analysis of phosphite-treated plants showed changes in several metabolite pools, most prominently those of aspartate, asparagine, glutamate, and serine. These alterations in amino acid pools provide novel insights for the understanding of phosphite-induced pathogen resistance
Orchestrated transcription of biological processes in the marine picoeukaryote Ostreococcus exposed to light/dark cycles
No full textBackground: Picoeukaryotes represent an important, yet poorly characterized component of marine phytoplankton. The recent genome availability for two species of Ostreococcus and Micromonas has led to the emergence of picophytoplankton comparative genomics. Sequencing has revealed many unexpected features about genome structure and led to several hypotheses on Ostreococcus biology and physiology. Despite the accumulation of genomic data, little is known about gene expression in eukaryotic picophytoplankton.
Results: We have conducted a genome-wide analysis of gene expression in Ostreococcus tauri cells exposed to light/dark cycles (L/D). A Bayesian Fourier Clustering method was implemented to cluster rhythmic genes according to their expression waveform. In a single L/D condition nearly all expressed genes displayed rhythmic patterns of expression. Clusters of genes were associated with the main biological processes such as transcription in the nucleus and the organelles, photosynthesis, DNA replication and mitosis.
Conclusions: Light/Dark time-dependent transcription of the genes involved in the main steps leading to protein synthesis (transcription basic machinery, ribosome biogenesis, translation and aminoacid synthesis) was observed, to an unprecedented extent in eukaryotes, suggesting a major input of transcriptional regulations in Ostreococcus. We propose that the diurnal co-regulation of genes involved in photoprotection, defence against oxidative stress and DNA repair might be an efficient mechanism, which protects cells against photo-damage thereby, contributing to the ability of O. tauri to grow under a wide range of light intensities
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A conditional mutation in Arabidopsis thaliana separase induces chromosome non-disjunction, aberrant morphogenesis and cyclin B1;1 stability
No full textThe caspase family protease, separase, is required at anaphase onset to cleave the cohesin complex, which joins sister chromatids. However, among eukaryotes, separases have acquired novel functions. Here, we show that Arabidopsis thaliana radially swollen 4 (rsw4), a temperature-sensitive mutant isolated previously on the basis of root swelling, harbors a mutation in At4g22970, the A. thaliana separase. Loss of separase function in rsw4 at the restrictive temperature is indicated by the widespread failure of replicated chromosomes to disjoin. Surprisingly, rsw4 has neither pronounced cell cycle arrest nor anomalous spindle formation, which occur in other eukaryotes upon loss of separase activity. However, rsw4 roots have disorganized cortical microtubules and accumulate the mitosis-specific cyclin, cyclin B1;1, excessive levels of which have been associated with altered microtubules and morphology. Cyclin B1;1 also accumulates in certain backgrounds in response to DNA damage, but we find no evidence for aberrant responses to DNA damage in rsw4. Our characterization of rsw4 leads us to hypothesize that plant separase, in addition to cleaving cohesin, regulates cyclin B1;1, with profound ramifications for morphogenesis
A conserved role for kinesin-5 in plant mitosis
No full textThe mitotic spindle of vascular plants is assembled and maintained by processes that remain poorly explored at a molecular level. Here, we report that AtKRP125c, one of four kinesin-5 motor proteins in arabidopsis, decorates microtubules throughout the cell cycle and appears to function in both interphase and mitosis. In a temperature-sensitive mutant, interphase cortical microtubules are disorganized at the restrictive temperature and mitotic spindles are massively disrupted, consistent with a defect in the stabilization of anti-parallel microtubules in the spindle midzone, as previously described in kinesin-5 mutants from animals and yeast. AtKRP125c introduced into mammalian epithelial cells by transfection decorates microtubules throughout the cell cycle but is unable to complement the loss of the endogenous kinesin-5 motor (Eg5). These results are among the first reports of any motor with a major role in anastral spindle structure in plants and demonstrate that the conservation of kinesin-5 motor function throughout eukaryotes extends to vascular plants
Involvement of microRNA-related regulatory pathways in the glucose-mediated control of Arabidopsis early seedling development
No full textFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)In plants, sugars such as glucose act as signalling molecules that promote changes in gene expression programmes that impact on growth and development. Recent evidence has revealed the potential importance of controlling mRNA decay in some aspects of glucose-mediated regulatory responses suggesting a role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in these responses. In order to get a better understanding of glucose-mediated development modulation involving miRNA-related regulatory pathways, early seedling development of mutants impaired in miRNA biogenesis (hyl1-2 and dcl1-11) and miRNA activity (ago1-25) was evaluated. All mutants exhibited a glucose hyposensitive phenotype from germination up to seedling establishment, indicating that miRNA regulatory pathways are involved in the glucose-mediated delay of early seedling development. The expression profile of 200 miRNA primary transcripts (pri-miRs) was evaluated by large-scale quantitative real-time PCR profiling, which revealed that 38 pri-miRs were regulated by glucose. For several of them, the corresponding mature miRNAs are known to participate directly or indirectly in plant development, and their accumulation was shown to be co-regulated with the pri-miR by glucose. Furthermore, the expression of several miRNA target genes was found to be deregulated in response to glucose in the miRNA machinery mutants ago1-25, dcl1-11, and hyl1-2. Also, in these mutants, glucose promoted misexpression of genes for the three abscisic acid signalling elements ABI3, ABI4, and ABI5. Thus, miRNA regulatory pathways play a role in the adjustments of growth and development triggered by glucose signalling.641443014312Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)BIOEN programme [2008/52071-0]German Federal Ministry for Education and Research [BMBF-Fkz 0315462]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)FAPESP [2008/54529-4]BIOEN programme [2008/52071-0]German Federal Ministry for Education and Research [BMBF-Fkz 0315462
