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Publications - Cell and Metabolic Biology

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Publications

Weichert, N.; Saalbach, I.; Weichert, H.; Kohl, S.; Erban, A.; Kopka, J.; Hause, B.; Varshney, A.; Sreenivasulu, N.; Strickert, M.; Kumlehn, J.; Weschke, W.; Weber, H.; Increasing Sucrose Uptake Capacity of Wheat Grains Stimulates Storage Protein Synthesis Plant Physiol. 152, 698-710, (2010) DOI: 10.1104/pp.109.150854

Increasing grain sink strength by improving assimilate uptake capacity could be a promising approach toward getting higher yield. The barley (Hordeum vulgare) sucrose transporter HvSUT1 (SUT) was expressed under control of the endosperm-specific Hordein B1 promoter (HO). Compared with the wild type, transgenic HOSUT grains take up more sucrose (Suc) in vitro, showing that the transgene is functional. Grain Suc levels are not altered, indicating that Suc fluxes are influenced rather than steady-state levels. HOSUT grains have increased percentages of total nitrogen and prolamins, which is reflected in increased levels of phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan, isoleucine, and leucine at late grain development. Transcript profiling indicates specific stimulation of prolamin gene expression at the onset of storage phase. Changes in gene expression and metabolite levels related to carbon metabolism and amino acid biosynthesis suggest deregulated carbon-nitrogen balance, which together indicate carbon sufficiency and relative depletion of nitrogen. Genes, deregulated together with prolamin genes, might represent candidates, which respond positively to assimilate supply and are related to sugar-starch metabolism, cytokinin and brassinosteroid functions, cell proliferation, and sugar/abscisic acid signaling. Genes showing inverse expression patterns represent potential negative regulators. It is concluded that HvSUT1 overexpression increases grain protein content but also deregulates the metabolic status of wheat (Triticum aestivum) grains, accompanied by up-regulated gene expression of positive and negative regulators related to sugar signaling and assimilate supply. In HOSUT grains, alternating stimulation of positive and negative regulators causes oscillatory patterns of gene expression and highlights the capacity and great flexibility to adjust wheat grain storage metabolism in response to metabolic alterations.
Publications

Miersch, O.; Weichert, H.; Stenzel, I.; Hause, B.; Maucher, H.; Feussner, I.; Wasternack, C.; Constitutive overexpression of allene oxide cyclase in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum cv. Lukullus) elevates levels of some jasmonates and octadecanoids in flower organs but not in leaves Phytochemistry 65, 847-856, (2004) DOI: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2004.01.016

The allene oxide cyclase (AOC), an enzyme in jasmonate biosynthesis, occurs in vascular bundles and ovules of tomato flowers which exhibit a tissue-specific oxylipin signature (Plant J. 24, 113-126, 2000). Constitutive overexpression of the AOC did not led to altered levels of jasmonates in leaves, but these levels increased upon wounding or other stresses suggesting regulation of jasmonate biosynthesis by substrate availability (Plant J. 33, 577-589, 2003). Here, we show dramatic changes in levels of jasmonic acid (JA), of 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA), their methyl esters (JAME, OPDAME), and of dinor-OPDA in most flower organs upon constitutive overexpression of AOC. Beside a dominant occurrence of OPDAME and JA in most flower organs, the ratio among the various compounds was altered differentially in the organs of transgenic flowers, e.g. OPDAME increased up to 53-fold in stamen, and JA increased about 51-fold in buds and 7.5-fold in sepals. The increase in jasmonates and octadecanoids was accompanied by decreased levels of free lipid hydro(per)oxy compounds. Except for 16:2, the AOC overexpression led to a significant increase in free but not esterified polyunsaturated fatty acids in all flower organs. The data suggest different regulation of JA biosynthesis in leaves and flowers of tomato.Constitutive overexpression of the AOC increases in all flower organs levels of some jasmonates and octadecanoids, alters the ratios among the compounds, decreases levels of free lipid hydro(per)oxy compounds and increases levels of free but not of esterified polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Publications

Stenzel, I.; Hause, B.; Miersch, O.; Kurz, T.; Maucher, H.; Weichert, H.; Ziegler, J.; Feussner, I.; Wasternack, C.; Jasmonate biosynthesis and the allene oxide cyclase family of Arabidopsis thaliana Plant Mol. Biol. 51, 895-911, (2003) DOI: 10.1023/A:1023049319723

In biosynthesis of octadecanoids and jasmonate (JA), the naturally occurring enantiomer is established in a step catalysed by the gene cloned recently from tomato as a single-copy gene (Ziegler et al., 2000). Based on sequence homology, four full-length cDNAs were isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Columbia coding for proteins with AOC activity. The expression of AOCgenes was transiently and differentially up-regulated upon wounding both locally and systemically and was induced by JA treatment. In contrast, AOC protein appeared at constitutively high basal levels and was slightly increased by the treatments. Immunohistochemical analyses revealed abundant occurrence of AOC protein as well as of the preceding enzymes in octadecanoid biosynthesis, lipoxygenase (LOX) and allene oxide synthase (AOS), in fully developed tissues, but much less so in 7-day old leaf tissues. Metabolic profiling data of free and esterified polyunsaturated fatty acids and lipid peroxidation products including JA and octadecanoids in wild-type leaves and the jasmonate-deficient mutant OPDA reductase 3 (opr3) revealed preferential activity of the AOS branch within the LOX pathway. 13-LOX products occurred predominantly as esterified derivatives, and all 13-hydroperoxy derivatives were below the detection limits. There was a constitutive high level of free 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA) in untreated wild-type and opr3 leaves, but an undetectable expression of AOC. Upon wounding opr3 leaves exhibited only low expression of AOC, wounded wild-type leaves, however, accumulated JA and AOC mRNA. These and further data suggest regulation of JA biosynthesis by OPDA compartmentalization and a positive feedback by JA during leaf development.
Books and chapters

Stumpe, M.; Stenzel, I.; Weichert, H.; Hause, B.; Feussner, I.; The Lipoxygenase Pathway in Mycorrhizal Roots of Medicago Truncatula 287-290, (2003) DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-0159-4_67

Mycorrhizas are by far the most frequent occurring beneficial symbiotic interactions between plants and fungi. Species in >80% of extant plant families are capable of establishing an arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM). In relation to the development of the symbiosis the first molecular modifications are those associated with plant defense responses, which seem to be locally suppressed to levels compatible with symbiotic interaction (Gianinazzi-Pearson, 1996). AM symbiosis can, however, reduce root disease caused by several soil-borne pathogens. The mechanisms underlying this protective effect are still not well understood. In plants, products of the enzyme lipoxygenase (LOX) and the corresponding downstream enzymes, collectively named LOX pathway (Fig. 1B), are involved in wound healing, pest resistance, and signaling, or they have antimicrobial and antifungal activity (Feussner and Wasternack, 2002). The central reaction in this pathway is catalyzed by LOXs leading to formation of either 9- or 13-hydroperoxy octadeca(di/trien)oic acids (9/13-HPO(D/T); Brash, 1999). Thus LOXs may be divided into 9- and 13-LOXs (Fig. 1A). Seven different reaction branches within this pathway can use these hydroperoxy polyenoic fatty acids (PUFAs) leading to (i) keto PUFAs by a LOX; (ii) epoxy hydroxy-fatty acids by an epoxy alcohol synthase (EAS); (iii) octadecanoids and jasmonates via allene oxide synthase (AOS); (iv) leaf aldehydes and leaf alcohols via fatty acid hydroperoxide lyase (HPL); (v) hydroxy PUFAs (reductase); (vi) divinyl ether PUFAs via divinyl ether synthase (DES); and (vii) epoxy- or dihydrodiolPUFAs via peroxygenase (PDX; Feussner and Wasternack, 2002). AOS, HPL and DES belong to one subfamily of P450-containing enzymes, the CYP74 family (Feussner and Wasternack, 2002). Here, the involvement of this CYP74 enzyme family in mycorrhizal roots of M. truncatula during early stages of AM symbiosis formation was analyzed.
Publications

Bachmann, A.; Hause, B.; Maucher, H.; Garbe, E.; Vörös, K.; Weichert, H.; Wasternack, C.; Feussner, I.; Jasmonate-Induced Lipid Peroxidation in Barley Leaves Initiated by Distinct 13-LOX Forms of Chloroplasts Biol. Chem. 383, 1645-1657, (2002) DOI: 10.1515/BC.2002.185

In addition to a previously characterized 13-lipoxygenase of 100 kDa encoded by LOX2:Hv:1 [Vörös et al., Eur. J. Biochem. 251 (1998), 36 44], two fulllength cDNAs (LOX2:Hv:2, LOX2:Hv:3) were isolated from barley leaves (Hordeum vulgare cv. Salome) and characterized. Both of them encode 13-lipoxygenases with putative target sequences for chloroplast import. Immunogold labeling revealed preferential, if not exclusive, localization of lipoxygenase proteins in the stroma. The ultrastructure of the chloroplast was dramatically altered following methyl jasmonate treatment, indicated by a loss of thylakoid membranes, decreased number of stacks and appearance of numerous osmiophilic globuli. The three 13-lipoxygenases are differentially expressed during treatment with jasmonate, salicylate, glucose or sorbitol. Metabolite profiling of free linolenic acid and free linoleic acid, the substrates of lipoxygenases, in water floated or jasmonatetreated leaves revealed preferential accumulation of linolenic acid. Remarkable amounts of free 9- as well as 13-hydroperoxy linolenic acid were found. In addition, metabolites of these hydroperoxides, such as the hydroxy derivatives and the respective aldehydes, appeared following methyl jasmonate treatment. These findings were substantiated by metabolite profiling of isolated chloroplasts, and subfractions including the envelope, the stroma and the thylakoids, indicating a preferential occurrence of lipoxygenasederived products in the stroma and in the envelope. These data revealed jasmonateinduced activation of the hydroperoxide lyase and reductase branch within the lipoxygenase pathway and suggest differential activity of the three 13-lipoxygenases under different stress conditions.
Publications

Hause, B.; Weichert, H.; Höhne, M.; Kindl, H.; Feussner, I.; Expression of cucumber lipid-body lipoxygenase in transgenic tobacco: lipid-body lipoxygenase is correctly targeted to seed lipid bodies Planta 210, 708-714, (2000) DOI: 10.1007/s004250050671

A particular isoform of lipoxygenase (LOX, EC 1.13.11.12) localized on lipid bodies has been shown by earlier investigations to play a role during seed germination in initiating the mobilization of triacylglycerols. On lipid bodies of germinating cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) seedlings, the modification of linoleoyl moieties by this LOX precedes the hydrolysis of the ester bonds. We analyzed the expression and intracellular location of this particular LOX form in leaves and seeds of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) transformed with one construct coding for cucumber lipid-body LOX and one construct coding for cucumber LOX fused with a hemagglutinin epitope. In both tissues, the amount of lipid-body LOX was clearly detectable. Biochemical analysis revealed that in mature seeds the foreign LOX was targeted to lipid bodies, and the preferred location of the LOX on lipid bodies was verified by immunofluorescence microscopy. Cells of the endosperm and of the embryo exhibited fluorescence based on the immunodecoration of LOX protein whereas very weak fluorescent label was visible in seeds of untransformed control plants. Further cytochemical analysis of transformed plants showed that the LOX protein accumulated in the cytoplasm when green leaves lacking lipid bodies were analyzed. Increased LOX activity was shown in young leaves of transformed plants by an increase in the amounts of endogenous (2E)-hexenal and jasmonic acid.
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