Effects of temperature on the expression of STN7 and phosphorylation of LHCII proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana

In Arabidopsis thaliana, STN7 kinase is required for phosphorylation of LHCII and for state transitions. In this paper, a hydrophilic polypeptide, derived from the amino acid sequence of STN7, was conjugated to a carrier protein, bovine serum albumin (BSA), to obtain the polyclonal antibody. Immunogenicity and specificity of the polyclonal antibody were evaluated by agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) test and Western blot analysis. The results show that besides the phosphorylation of LHCII proteins, also the expression of STN7 was regulated by temperature conditions. In addition, the change tendency of LHCII proteins phosphorylation was not only coherent with expression of STN7 with respect to increasing temperature, but also closely related to state transitions. These results would provide useful information for studying regulatory mechanism of LHCII proteins phosphorylation and expression of STN7. Supported by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (Grant No. 30270124), Doctoral Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 20020610094), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (Grant No. NCET-04-0861) and Sichuan University Research Grant 985