Unser 10. Leibniz Plant Biochemistry Symposium am 7. und 8. Mai war ein großer Erfolg. Thematisch ging es in diesem Jahr um neue Methoden und Forschungsansätze der Naturstoffchemie. Die exzellenten Vorträge über Wirkstoffe…
Omanische Heilpflanze im Fokus der Phytochemie IPB-Wissenschaftler und Partner aus Dhofar haben jüngst die omanische Heilpflanze Terminalia dhofarica unter die phytochemische Lupe genommen. Die Pflanze ist reich an…
Geschmack ist vorhersagbar: Mit FlavorMiner. FlavorMiner heißt das Tool, das IPB-Chemiker und Partner aus Kolumbien jüngst entwickelt haben. Das Programm kann, basierend auf maschinellem Lernen (KI), anhand der…
BackgroundAgrobacterium tumefaciens-based transient assays have become a common tool for answering questions related to protein localization and gene expression in a cellular context. The use of these assays assumes that the transiently transformed cells are observed under relatively authentic physiological conditions and maintain ‘normal’ sub-cellular behaviour. Although this premise is widely accepted, the question of whether cellular organization and organelle morphology is altered in Agrobacterium-infiltrated cells has not been examined in detail. The first indications of an altered sub-cellular environment came from our observation that a common laboratory strain, GV3101(pMP90), caused a drastic increase in stromule frequency. Stromules, or ‘stroma-filled-tubules’ emanate from the surface of plastids and are sensitive to a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses. Starting from this observation, the goal of our experiments was to further characterize the changes to the cell resulting from short-term bacterial infestation, and to identify the factor responsible for eliciting these changes.ResultsUsing a protocol typical of transient assays we evaluated the impact of GV3101(pMP90) infiltration on chloroplast behaviour and morphology in Nicotiana benthamiana. Our experiments confirmed that GV3101(pMP90) consistently induces stromules and alters plastid position relative to the nucleus. These effects were found to be the result of strain-dependant secretion of cytokinin and its accumulation in the plant tissue. Bacterial production of the hormone was found to be dependant on the presence of a trans-zeatin synthase gene (tzs) located on the Ti plasmid of GV3101(pMP90). Bacteria-derived cytokinins were also correlated with changes to both soluble sugar level and starch accumulation.ConclusionAlthough we have chosen to focus on how transient Agrobacterium infestation alters plastid based parameters, these changes to the morphology and position of a single organelle, combined with the measured increases in sugar and starch content, suggest global changes to cell physiology. This indicates that cells visualized during transient assays may not be as ‘normal’ as was previously assumed. Our results suggest that the impact of the bacteria can be minimized by choosing Agrobacterium strains devoid of the tzs gene, but that the alterations to sub-cellular organization and cell carbohydrate status cannot be completely avoided using this strategy.
BackgroundPlant perception of conserved microbe-derived or damage-derived molecules (so-called microbe- or damage-associated molecular patterns, MAMPs or DAMPs, respectively) triggers cellular signaling cascades to initiate counteracting defence responses. Using MAMP-induced rise in cellular calcium levels as one of the earliest biochemical readouts, we initiated a genetic screen for components involved in early MAMP signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana.ResultsWe characterized here the “changed calcium elevation 5” (cce5) mutant, where five allelic cce5 mutants were isolated. They all show reduced calcium levels after elicitation with peptides representing bacteria-derived MAMPs (flg22 and elf18) and endogenous DAMP (AtPep1), but a normal response to chitin octamers. Mapping, sequencing of the mutated locus and complementation studies revealed CCE5 to encode the receptor-like cytoplasmic kinase (RLCK), avrPphB sensitive 1-like 1 (PBL1). Kinase activities of PBL1 derived from three of the cce5 alleles are abrogated in vivo. Validation with T-DNA mutants revealed that, besides PBL1, another RLCK, Botrytis-induced kinase 1 (BIK1), is also required for MAMP/DAMP-induced calcium elevations.ConclusionsHence, PBL1 and BIK1 (but not two related RLCKs, PBS1 and PBL2) are required for MAMP/DAMP-induced calcium signaling. It remains to be investigated if the many other RLCKs encoded in the Arabidopsis genome affect early calcium signal transduction – perhaps in dependence on the type of MAMP/DAMP ligands. A future challenge would be to identify the substrates of these various RLCKs, in order to elucidate their signaling role between the receptor complexes at the plasma membrane and downstream cellular signaling components.
Publikation
Brandt, W.; Backenköhler, A.; Schulze, E.; Plock, A.; Herberg, T.; Roese, E.; Wittstock, U.;Molecular models and mutational analyses of plant specifier proteins suggest active site residues and reaction mechanismPlant Mol. Biol.84173-188(2014)DOI: 10.1007/s11103-013-0126-0
As components of the glucosinolate-myrosinase system, specifier proteins contribute to the diversity of chemical defenses that have evolved in plants of the Brassicales order as a protection against herbivores and pathogens. Glucosinolates are thioglucosides that are stored separately from their hydrolytic enzymes, myrosinases, in plant tissue. Upon tissue disruption, glucosinolates are hydrolyzed by myrosinases yielding instable aglucones that rearrange to form defensive isothiocyanates. In the presence of specifier proteins, other products, namely simple nitriles, epithionitriles and organic thiocyanates, can be formed instead of isothiocyanates depending on the glucosinolate side chain structure and the type of specifier protein. The biochemical role of specifier proteins is largely unresolved. We have used two thiocyanate-forming proteins and one epithiospecifier protein with different substrate/product specificities to develop molecular models that, in conjunction with mutational analyses, allow us to propose an active site and docking arrangements with glucosinolate aglucones that may explain some of the differences in specifier protein specificities. Furthermore, quantum-mechanical calculations support a reaction mechanism for benzylthiocyanate formation including a catalytic role of the TFP involved. These results may serve as a basis for further theoretical and experimental investigations of the mechanisms of glucosinolate breakdown that will also help to better understand the evolution of specifier proteins from ancestral proteins with functions outside glucosinolate metabolism.