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Publications - Stress and Develop Biology

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Publications

Schulz, P.; Piepenburg, K.; Lintermann, R.; Herde, M.; Schöttler, M. A.; Schmidt, L. K.; Ruf, S.; Kudla, J.; Romeis, T.; Bock, R.; Improving plant drought tolerance and growth under water limitation through combinatorial engineering of signaling networks Plant Biotechnol. J. 19, 74–86, (2021) DOI: 10.1111/pbi.13441

Agriculture is by far the biggest water consumer on our planet, accounting for 70 percent of all freshwater withdrawals. Climate change and a growing world population increase pressure on agriculture to use water more efficiently (‘more crop per drop’). Water‐use efficiency (WUE) and drought tolerance of crops are complex traits that are determined by many physiological processes whose interplay is not well understood. Here we describe a combinatorial engineering approach to optimize signaling networks involved in the control of stress tolerance. Screening a large population of combinatorially transformed plant lines, we identified a combination of calcium‐dependent protein kinase genes that confers enhanced drought stress tolerance and improved growth under water‐limiting conditions. Targeted introduction of this gene combination into plants increased plant survival under drought and enhanced growth under water‐limited conditions. Our work provides an efficient strategy for engineering complex signaling networks to improve plant performance under adverse environmental conditions, which does not depend on prior understanding of network function.
Publications

Durian, G.; Sedaghatmehr, M.; Matallana-Ramirez, L. P.; Schilling, S. M.; Schaepe, S.; Guerra, T.; Herde, M.; Witte, C.-P.; Mueller-Roeber, B.; Schulze, W. X.; Balazadeh, S.; Romeis, T.; Calcium-Dependent Protein Kinase CPK1 Controls Cell Death by In Vivo Phosphorylation of Senescence Master Regulator ORE1 Plant Cell 32, 1610-1625, (2020) DOI: 10.1105/tpc.19.00810

Calcium-regulated protein kinases are key components of are key components of intracellular signaling in plants that mediate rapid stress-induced responses to changes in the environment. To identify in vivo phosphorylation substrates of CALCIUM-DEPENDENT PROTEIN KINASE1 (CPK1), we analyzed the conditional expression of constitutively active CPK1 in conjunction with in vivo phosphoproteomics. We identified Arabidopsis thaliana ORESARA1 (ORE1), the developmental master regulator of senescence, as a direct CPK1 phosphorylation substrate. CPK1 phosphorylates ORE1 at a hotspot within an intrinsically disordered region. This augments transcriptional activation by ORE1 of its downstream target gene BIFUNCTIONAL NUCLEASE1 (BFN1). Plants that overexpress ORE1, but not an ORE1 variant lacking the CPK1 phosphorylation hotspot, promote early senescence. Furthermore, ORE1 is required for enhanced cell death induced by CPK1 signaling. Our data validate the use of conditional expression of an active enzyme combined with phosphoproteomics to decipher specific kinase target proteins of low abundance, of transient phosphorylation, or in yet undescribed biological contexts. Here, we have identified that senescence is not just under molecular surveillance manifested by stringent gene regulatory control over ORE1. In addition, the decision to die is superimposed by an additional layer of control towards ORE1 via its post-translational modification linked to the calcium-regulatory network through CPK1.
Publications

Matschi, S.; Hake, K.; Herde, M.; Hause, B.; Romeis, T.; The Calcium-Dependent Protein Kinase CPK28 Regulates Development by Inducing Growth Phase-Specific, Spatially Restricted Alterations in Jasmonic Acid Levels Independent of Defense Responses in Arabidopsis Plant Cell 27, 591-606, (2015) DOI: 10.1105/tpc.15.00024

Phytohormones play an important role in development and stress adaptations in plants, and several interacting hormonal pathways have been suggested to accomplish fine-tuning of stress responses at the expense of growth. This work describes the role played by the CALCIUM-DEPENDENT PROTEIN KINASE CPK28 in balancing phytohormone-mediated development in Arabidopsis thaliana, specifically during generative growth. cpk28 mutants exhibit growth reduction solely as adult plants, coinciding with altered balance of the phytohormones jasmonic acid (JA) and gibberellic acid (GA). JA-dependent gene expression and the levels of several JA metabolites were elevated in a growth phase-dependent manner in cpk28, and accumulation of JA metabolites was confined locally to the central rosette tissue. No elevated resistance toward herbivores or necrotrophic pathogens was detected for cpk28 plants, either on the whole-plant level or specifically within the tissue displaying elevated JA levels. Abolishment of JA biosynthesis or JA signaling led to a full reversion of the cpk28 growth phenotype, while modification of GA signaling did not. Our data identify CPK28 as a growth phase-dependent key negative regulator of distinct processes: While in seedlings, CPK28 regulates reactive oxygen species-mediated defense signaling; in adult plants, CPK28 confers developmental processes by the tissue-specific balance of JA and GA without affecting JA-mediated defense responses.
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