ATHK1 acts downstream of hydrogen peroxide to mediate ABA signaling through regulation of calcium channel activity in Arabidopsis guard cells

Plants gradually develop their ability to tolerate environmental water deficit as part of the evolutionary process.Abscisic acid(ABA) plays a critical role during drought and osmotic stress.Several histidine protein kinases are regarded as osmotic sensors or regulators in the adaptive response of plants to water deficit.In this study,we report that ATHK1,which was previously shown to function as an osmotic regulator,is involved in ABA-induced stomatal signaling in Arabidopsis.Mutants null for ATHK1 expression were unable to transmit normal ABA responses in guard cells,including inducing stomatal closure,producing hydrogen peroxide and activating calcium influx.Moreover,patch clamp and confocal analysis demonstrated that ATHK1 may function downstream of hydrogen peroxide in ABA-induced stomatal closure,by regulating calcium channel activity and calcium oscillation in Arabidopsis guard cells.     

SRO1 regulates heavy metal mercury stress response in Arabidopsis thaliana

Heavy metals in the environment are harmful limiting factors for the normal growth and development of plants. Here, we isolated and identified an Arabidopsis thaliana T-DNA insertion mutant, named srol-1, which showed a hyper-sensitive response to HgCl2. The SRO1 protein contains a WWE domain that mediates proteinprotein interactions. Under HgCl2 treatment, when compared with the wild-type plants, the growth of srol-1 was repressed dramatically and the number of true leaves was reduced and etiolated. The electrolyte leakage rates showed that cell membrane integrity in srol-1 was damaged more severely than in the wild type. DAB （3,5-diaminobenzidine） staining and confocal microscopy showed that Hg2＋ stress induced more hydrogen peroxide accumulation in srol-1 than in the wild type. The qRT-PCR results indicated that the expression of some abiotic stress-induced genes, such as L-ascorbate peroxidase （APX1）, was reduced under oxidative or Hg2＋ stress. Transgenic plants containing a GFP：：SRO1 fusion protein showed that SRO1 was localized in the nucleus of the cells. SRO1 was shown to be expressed in various tissues, and was most highly expressed in the vigorous tissues. Our results suggest thatSRO1 may play an important role in the stress response of A. thaliana to heavy metals.     

An on-line multi-parameter analyzing optical biosensor for real-time and non-invasive monitoring of plant stress responses in vivo

Photosynthetic dysfunction and reactive oxygen species （ROS） production are the common features of plant stress responses. Based on quantitative measurement of ROS production and delayed fluorescence （DF） emission, which is an excellent marker for evaluating photosynthesis, an on-line multiparameter analyzing optical biosensor for detecting plant stress responses was developed. Performances of the proposed biosensor were tested in the wild type （WT） Arabidopsis and heat shock protein （Hsp） 101 T-DNA knockout mutant （hsp101） plants with different thermotolerance. Results demonstrated that DF intensity correlates with net photosynthesis rate （Pn） in response to elevated temperature in both the WT Arabidopsis and hsp101 mutant plants. The light response characteristics and the recovery dynamics of the DF intensity were also in line with those of Pn in both the WT Arabidopsis and hsp101 mutant plants after heat stress （HS, 40℃ for 30 min）, respectively. In all experiments discussed above, the hsp101 plant showed the worse photosynthetic performance than the WT plant. Moreover, after HS, more ROS production in the hsp101 mutant than in WT Arabidopsis, which was found to be mainly localized at chloroplasts, could be directly detected by using the proposed biosensor. In addition, the hsp101 mutant showed severer chloroplasts alterations than the WT plant within the first 1 h of recovery following HS. Nevertheless, pre-infiltration with catalase （CAT） reduced ROS production and prevented the declines of the DF intensity. Therefore, HS-caused declines of photosynthetic performance might be due to oxidative damage to photosynthetic organelle. To sum up, we conclude that Hsp101 plays an important role in preventing oxidative stress, and the proposed optical biosensor might be a powerful tool to determine plant stress responses and identify plant resistant difference.     

拟南芥抗旱突变体的筛选和鉴定

文章采用不同浓度的甘露醇模拟干旱胁迫,以发芽率为筛选指标在拟南芥突变体库中筛选抗旱突变体,筛选出2株候选突变体,最终得到1株稳定突变体vem1,通过表型和生理生化鉴定,确定为抗旱突变体。该研究为抗旱基因克隆及功能分析奠定基础,对于揭示植物抗旱的分子机理具有重要的理论意义。     

转录因子OsNAC2对逆境下水稻产量性状的影响

以水稻OsNAC2过表达、RNAi转基因株系和野生型(日本晴)为材料,分别在苗期和生殖期进行干旱和盐胁迫处理,探索逆境条件下OsNAC2对水稻产量性状的影响。结果表明,不论是在苗期还是生殖期,OsNAC2-RNAi株系的叶相对含水量均比野生型更高,对干旱胁迫具有更强的适应能力;而OsNAC2过表达株系则相反。虽然苗期和生殖期遭遇盐胁迫的OsNAC2-RNAi株系相比野生型具有更高的叶相对含水量,但是OsNAC2的过量表达与RNAi株系的产量性状跟野生型相比并没有明显不同。生殖期干旱和盐胁迫下转基因株系的产量性状分析显示:干旱胁迫下,OsNAC2-RNAi株系的结实率与野生型相比显著提高了20.8%～29.2%,千粒重则无明显差异;而OsNAC2过表达株系每株粒数和千粒重相比野生型株系均显著降低。虽然盐胁迫下OsNAC2-RNAi株系的分蘖数和有效穗数明显比野生型高,但单株粒数和千粒重则无明显差异。上述结果表明,OsNAC2-RNAi株系具有更强的耐旱性,对于干旱胁迫下水稻的产量有显著的提高作用。     

A vacuole localized β-glucosidase contributes to drought tolerance in Arabidopsis

The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) plays a critical role in plant growth, development, and adaptation to various stress conditions. The cellular ABA level is constantly adjusted to respond to changing physiological and environmental conditions. To date, the mechanisms for fine-tuning ABA levels remain elusive. Here, we report that BGLU10, a member of a multigene family of β-glucosidases, contributes to drought tolerance in Arabidopsis. The T-DNA insertion mutant bglu10 exhibited a droughtsensitive phenoty...     

Functional analysis of the ABA-responsive protein family in ABA and stress signal transduction in Arabidopsis

The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) plays an important role in plant growth and development, for example in seed dormancy and germination, as well as in plant responses to environmental stresses, such as drought and high salinity. Previous studies have shown that ABA regulates the expression of genes with an ABA-responsive element (ABRE) and their corresponding physiological responses. Bioinformatics analysis identified a GRAM domain-containing gene family that has a multiple ABRE cis-element, which was termed the ABA-responsive protein (ABR) family. To analyze the function of the ABR family, we identified homozygous T-DNA insertion mutants and constructed abr1, 2, 3 double mutants and triple mutant. The abr1, abr2 and abr3 single mutants showed a normal phenotype; however, the germination of seeds of the double mutants and triple mutant were insensitive to ABA, NaCl, mannitol and glucose. ABR1-GFP was distributed as a punctate structure in the cytosol and may be localized in the endomembrane system. The ABR2-GFP and ABR3-GFP proteins localized in the cytoplasm. In addition, ABR1, ABR2 and ABR3 were expressed in various tissues, and could be induced by several abiotic stresses, especially by ABA. The expressions of these genes were significantly suppressed in aba2, abi1 and abi2 null mutants. These results suggested that the ABR family may act downstream of ABI1 and ABI2 in the ABA signal transduction process in plants.     

Overexpression of phospholipase <Emphasis Type="Italic">D</Emphasis>α gene enhances drought and salt tolerance of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Populus tomentosa</Emphasis>

The cDNA of AtPLDa （Arabidopsis thaliana Phospholipase Da） gene was introduced into P. tomentosa （Populus tomentosa） under the control of the Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. Southern and Northern blot analyses suggested that the AtPLDa gene has been transferred into the P. tomentosa genome. No obvious morphological or developmental difference was observed between the transgenic and wild-type （WT） plants. Drought and salt tolerance and gene expression of seedlings of several transgenic lines and WT plants （control） were studied. The results showed that the rhizogenesis rate and the average root-length of transgenic lines were significantly higher than WT plants after mannitol and NaCI treatment under the same growth conditions. Northern blot analysis indicated that the higher the PLDa expression in the transgenic plants, the more tolerant the transgenic plants are to drought and salt treatment. Meanwhile, another group of these transgenic lines and WT plants （control） were treated with PEG6000 and NaCI separately. The contents of chlorophylls and the activities of some anti- oxidant enzymes （superoxide dismutase, guaiacol peroxidase and catalase） as well as malondialdehyde and relative electrical conductivity were analyzed. Altogether, our results demonstrated that overexpression of the PLDa gene can enhance the drought and salt tolerance in transgenic P. tomentosa plants.     

Characterization of Arabidopsis calreticulin mutants in response to calcium and salinity stresses

As an important calcium-binding protein,calreticulin plays an important role in regulating calcium homeostasis in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of plants.Here,we identified three loss-of-function mutants ofcalreticulin genes in Arabidopsis to demonstrate the function of calreticulin in response to calcium and salinity stresses.There are three genes encoding calreticulin in Arabidopsis,and they are named AtCRT1,2,and 3,respectively.We found that both single mutant of crt3 and double mutant of crtl crt2 were more sensitive to low calcium environment than wild-type Arabidopsis.Moreover,crt3 mutant showed more sensitivity to salt treatment at germination stage,but tolerance to salt stress at later stage compared with wild-type plant.However,there was no obvious growth difference in the mutant crt1 and crt2 compared with wild-type Arabidopsis under calcium and salt stresses.These results suggest that calreticulin functions in plant responses to calcium and salt stresses.     

Osmotically stress-regulated the expression of glutathione peroxidase 3 in Arabidopsis

Gene expression of glutathione peroxidase 3 (ATGPX3) in response to osmotic stress was analyzed in Arabidopsis using ATGPX3 promoter-glucuronidase (GUS) transgenic plants. High levels of GUS ex- pression were detected under osmotic stress in ATGPX3 promoter-GUS transgenic plants. Compared with the wild type, the growth and development of ATGPX3 mutants (atgpx3-1) were more sensitive to mannitol. In addition, the expression of RD29A, ABI1, ABI2 and RbohD in atgpx3-1 was induced by ABA stress. These results suggest that ATGPX3 might be involved in the signal transduction of osmotic stress.     

转AlNHX1基因大豆后代遗传稳定性及耐盐性分析

为了获得耐盐性有所提高的转AlNHX1基因大豆后代材料,以已获得的转AlNHX1基因的6个株系中的3个株系后代为研究对象,通过分别对这3个株系转基因大豆各后代进行PCR分子检测并结合耐盐性鉴定,以分析外源基因在转基因大豆中遗传稳定性和耐盐性.结果表明:AlNHX1基因在转基因植株的后代中遗传;选取3个株系中部分阳性植株做耐盐性检测,结果表明:转基因大豆耐盐性状均好于野生型大豆.在150mmol/L NaCl胁迫下,转基因大豆叶片中维持了相对较高的K+/Na+比值,相对含水量较野生型提高了9%,而渗透势降低了39%,表明转基因大豆具有较好的吸水和保水能力;在盐胁迫下,超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)与过氧化物酶(POD)活性较野生型大豆分别提高了45%与69%.综上,通过耐盐筛选获得的转AlNHX1基因大豆具有较强的耐盐性.     

Salt tolerance conferred by over-expression ofOsNHX1 gene in Poplar 84K

OsNHX1 gene (Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter gene ofOryza sativa L.) was introduced into Poplar 84K withAgrobacterium tumefaciens- mediated transformation. PCR, Southern and Northern blot analysis showed thatOsNHX1 gene was incorporated successfully into the genome of Poplar 84K and expressed in these transgenic plants. Salt tolerance test showed that three lines of transgenic plants grew normally in the presence of 200 mmol/L NaCl, while the Na⁺ content in the leaves of the transgenic plants grown at 200 mmol/L NaCl was significantly higher than that in plants grown at 0 mmol/L NaCl. The osmotic potential in the transgenic plants with high salinity treatment was lower than that of control plants. Our results demonstrate the potential use of these transgenic plants for agricultural use in saline soils.     

过表达E3泛素连接酶ABRv1通过泛素化CPK3提高拟南芥干旱耐受

拟南芥基因ABRv1编码了一个E3泛素连接酶,其表达量受到干旱胁迫的诱导.为了探究ABRv1功能,我们构建了ABRv1的过表达株系并进行干旱处理,结果显示ABRv1过表达株系OE-3具有90.4%的存活率,ABRv1过表达株系OE-7有88.2%的存活率,野生型Col的存活率则为53.8%,而abrv1突变体仅有7.7%的存活率,说明过表达ABRv1提高了拟南芥对干旱的耐受能力.我们还测定了干旱处理下的失水率,也能得出与上述一致的结论.此外,我们使用纯化的GSTABRv1、His-CPK3蛋白进行了体外pull-down实验和体外泛素化实验,结果证明ABRv1能够和CPK3发生相互作用,ABRv1具有E3泛素连接酶活性并且能够把CPK3单泛素化.结果揭示了ABRv1作为一个正调控因子通过泛素化作用底物CPK3参与了拟南芥的干旱胁迫应答过程.     

小麦耐甘露醇变异系生理特性分析

目的对二次离体筛选获得的小麦耐甘露醇变异细胞系进行生理生化及分子生物学鉴定。方法检测该变异细胞系在甘露醇,NaCl和聚乙二醇(PEG-6000)模拟的渗透胁迫环境中的耐受生长能力,并测定变异系在甘露醇胁迫下游离脯氨酸含量、可溶性糖含量、可溶性蛋白含量、Na /K 含量等生理生化特性及可溶性蛋白质组成和基因组DNA多态性等分子特征。结果通过愈伤组织在甘露醇,NaCl和聚乙二醇(PEG-6000)模拟的渗透胁迫条件下的生长实验,发现变异系细胞系可以在对照细胞系不能生长的20%甘露醇,1.5%NaCl和20%PEG-6000胁迫条件下,分别表现出14.5%(见图1),12.8%(见图2),41.8%(见图3)的相对生长量;在20%甘露醇胁迫条件下变异系细胞系游离脯氨酸积累量为对照系的80%(见图4),可溶性糖积累量为对照系的1.2倍(见图5),可溶性蛋白含量为对照系的1.3倍(见表1)。在相同浓度的甘露醇模拟的渗透胁迫环境中变异系再生植株比对照植株相能维持较高的K /Na 比值(见表2)。与对照相比,耐甘露醇变异细胞系再生植株可溶性蛋白SDS-PAGE发生显著变化:6条新可溶性蛋白谱带出现在变异系再生植株中,同时对照系中的1条可溶性蛋白谱带在突变株中缺失(见图6)。变异系植株与对照株RAPD带型呈现一定的多态性(见图7),表明变异系基因组DNA与对照相比发生了突变。结论所研究的小麦耐甘露醇变异细胞系是一个具有较强渗透胁迫耐受能力,可用于进一步育种工作的良好突变体材料。     

Analysis of type II toxin-antitoxin genes <Emphasis Type="Italic">all</Emphasis> 3211-<Emphasis Type="Italic">asl</Emphasis> 3212 in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Anabaena</Emphasis> PCC 7120

The type II toxin-antitoxin genes are responsible for the phenotypic switch to a quasi-dormant state that enables cell survival under stresses, a similar function to heterocyst of cyanobacteria. In this paper, we particularly study the role of gene pair all3211-asl3212 under Spectinomycin stress to reveal how the type II toxin-antitoxin involved in environmental stress responses. Bioinformatics prediction shows that toxin protein gene All3211 is homologous to MazF, a member of mazEF family that encoding nucleases. We clone gene all3211-asl3212 into expression vectors to identify its molecular characteristics. Deletion mutant strains of all3211-asl3212 are selected in a tri-parental mating screen. Phenotype comparisons of mutant and wild type reveals no difference of single-deletion-mutants in pigment integrity, the sensitivity to antibiotics, and heterocyst formation. The results show that deletion mutation of single TAS gene pair all3211-asl3212 results in limited effects on the cellular growth of PCC 7120. Thus, we suggest that dosage compensating might be provided from redundant genes or bypass pathways to offset obvious phenotypic differences.     

拟南芥AtHHR3响应热胁迫应答的初步分析

拟南芥基因AtHHR3编码一个RING结构域的E3连接酶,通过生物信息学分析发现其可能参与植物热胁迫相关的应答.为了探索其具体的功能,构建了AtHHR3互补株系,并在DNA水平和转录水平分别鉴定了AtHHR3互补株系,用RT-PCR技术分析了AtHHR3在热处理条件下基因表达的变化情况.在热胁迫下分析了野生型、突变体athhr3、回复株系幼苗存活以及种子萌发的表型变化情况,发现突变体athhr3表现出对热胁迫的耐受性,并检测了热胁迫下不同株系的HSF、HSP等热相关基因的转录水平的变化,初步的研究表明拟南芥基因AtHHR3负调控植物对热胁迫的耐受性.     

Magnaporthe oryzae MTP1 gene encodes a type III transmembrane protein involved in conidiation and conidial germination

In this study the MTP1 gene, encoding a type III integral transmembrane protein, was isolated from the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. The Mtp 1 protein is 520 amino acids long and is comparable to the Ytp 1 protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with 46% sequence similarity. Prediction programs and MTP1-GFP （green fluorescent protein） fusion expression results indicate that Mtp 1 is a protein located at several membranes in the cytoplasm. The functions of the MTP1 gene in the growth and development of the fungus were studied using an MTP1 gene knockout mutant. The MTP1 gene was primarily expressed at the hyphal and conidial stages and is necessary for conidiation and conidial germination, but is not required for pathogenicity. The Amtpl mutant grew more efficiently than the wild type strain on non-fermentable carbon sources, implying that the MTP1 gene has a unique role in respiratory growth and carbon source use.