jump to searchjump to navigationjump to content

Publications - Cell and Metabolic Biology

Sort by: Year Type of publication

Displaying results 1 to 7 of 7.

Publications

Zeng, M.; Krajinski, F.; Dam, N. M.; Hause, B.; Jarin-1, an inhibitor of JA-Ile biosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana , acts differently in other plant species Plant Signaling & Behavior 18, e2273515, (2023) DOI: 10.1080/15592324.2023.2273515

Jasmonates (JAs), including jasmonic acid (JA) and its biologically active derivative JA-Ile, are lipid-derived plant signaling molecules. They govern plant responses to stresses, such as wounding and insect herbivory. Wounding elicits a rapid increase of JA and JA-Ile levels as well as the expression of JAR1, coding for the enzyme involved in JA-Ile biosynthesis. Endogenous increase and application of JAs, such as MeJA, a JA methylester, result in increased defense levels, often accompanied by diminished growth. A JA-Ile biosynthesis inhibitor, jarin-1, was shown to exclusively inhibit the JA-conjugating enzyme JAR1 in Arabidopsis thaliana. To investigate whether jarin-1 does function similarly in other plants, we tested this in Medicago truncatula, Solanum lycopersicum, and Brassica nigra seedlings in a root growth inhibition assay. Application of jarin-1 alleviated the inhibition of root growth after MeJA application in M. truncatula seedlings, proving that jarin-1 is biologically active in M. truncatula. Jarin-1 did not show, however, a similar effect in S. lycopersicum and B. nigra seedlings treated with MeJA. Even JA-Ile levels were not affected by application of jarin-1 in wounded leaf disks from S. lycopersicum. Based on these results, we conclude that the effect of jarin-1 is highly species-specific. Researchers intending to use jarin-1 for studying the function of JAR1 or JA-Ile in their model plants, must test its functionality before use.
Publications

Zeng, M.; Hause, B.; van Dam, N. M.; Uthe, H.; Hoffmann, P.; Krajinski, F.; Martínez‐Medina, A.; The mycorrhizal symbiosis alters the plant defence strategy in a model legume plant Plant Cell Environ. 45, 3412-3428, (2022) DOI: 10.1111/pce.14421

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis modulates plant‐herbivore interactions. Still, how it shapes the overall plant defence strategy and the mechanisms involved remain unclear. We investigated how AM symbiosis simultaneously modulates plant resistance and tolerance to a shoot herbivore, and explored the underlying mechanisms. Bioassays with Medicago truncatula plants were used to study the effect of the AM fungus Rhizophagus irregularis on plant resistance and tolerance to Spodoptera exigua herbivory. By performing molecular and chemical analyses, we assessed the impact of AM symbiosis on herbivore‐triggered phosphate (Pi)‐ and jasmonate (JA)‐related responses. Upon herbivory, AM symbiosis led to an increased leaf Pi content by boosting the mycorrhizal Pi‐uptake pathway. This enhanced both plant tolerance and herbivore performance. AM symbiosis counteracted the herbivore‐triggered JA burst, reducing plant resistance. To disentangle the role of the mycorrhizal Pi‐uptake pathway in the plant\'s response to herbivory, we used the mutant line ha1‐2, impaired in the H+‐ATPase gene HA1, which is essential for Pi‐uptake via the mycorrhizal pathway. We found that mycorrhiza‐triggered enhancement of herbivore performance was compromised in ha1‐2 plants. AM symbiosis thus affects the defence pattern of M. truncatula by altering resistance and tolerance simultaneously. We propose that the mycorrhizal Pi‐uptake pathway is involved in the modulation of the plant defence strategy.
Publications

Bucher, M.; Hause, B.; Krajinski, F.; Küster, H.; Through the doors of perception to function in arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses New Phytol. 204, 833-840, (2014) DOI: 10.1111/nph.12862

The formation of an arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis is initiated by the bidirectional exchange of diffusible molecules. While strigolactone hormones, secreted from plant roots, stimulate hyphal branching and fungal metabolism, fungal short‐chain chitin oligomers as well as sulfated and nonsulfated lipochitooligosaccharides (s/nsMyc‐LCOs) elicit pre‐symbiosis responses in the host. Fungal LCO signals are structurally related to rhizobial Nod‐factor LCOs. Genome‐wide expression studies demonstrated that defined sets of genes were induced by Nod‐, sMyc‐ and nsMyc‐LCOs, indicating LCO‐specific perception in the pre‐symbiosis phase. During hyphopodium formation and the subsequent root colonization, cross‐talk between plant roots and AM fungi also involves phytohormones. Notably, gibberellins control arbuscule formation via DELLA proteins, which themselves serve as positive regulators of arbuscule formation. The establishment of arbuscules is accompanied by a substantial transcriptional and post‐transcriptional reprogramming of host roots, ultimately defining the unique protein composition of arbuscule‐containing cells. Based on cellular expression profiles, key checkpoints of AM development as well as candidate genes encoding transcriptional regulators and regulatory microRNAs were identified. Detailed functional analyses of promoters specified short motifs sufficient for cell‐autonomous gene regulation in cells harboring arbuscules, and suggested simultaneous, multi‐level regulation of the mycorrhizal phosphate uptake pathway by integrating AM symbiosis and phosphate starvation response signaling.
Publications

Krajinski, F.; Courty, P.-E.; Sieh, D.; Franken, P.; Zhang, H.; Bucher, M.; Gerlach, N.; Kryvoruchko, I.; Zoeller, D.; Udvardi, M.; Hause, B.; The H+-ATPase HA1 of Medicago truncatula Is Essential for Phosphate Transport and Plant Growth during Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis Plant Cell 26, 1808-1817, (2014) DOI: 10.1105/tpc.113.120436

A key feature of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis is improved phosphorus nutrition of the host plant via the mycorrhizal pathway, i.e., the fungal uptake of Pi from the soil and its release from arbuscules within root cells. Efficient transport of Pi from the fungus to plant cells is thought to require a proton gradient across the periarbuscular membrane (PAM) that separates fungal arbuscules from the host cell cytoplasm. Previous studies showed that the H+-ATPase gene HA1 is expressed specifically in arbuscule-containing root cells of Medicago truncatula. We isolated a ha1-2 mutant of M. truncatula and found it to be impaired in the development of arbuscules but not in root colonization by Rhizophagus irregularis hyphae. Artificial microRNA silencing of HA1 recapitulated this phenotype, resulting in small and truncated arbuscules. Unlike the wild type, the ha1-2 mutant failed to show a positive growth response to mycorrhizal colonization under Pi-limiting conditions. Uptake experiments confirmed that ha1-2 mutants are unable to take up phosphate via the mycorrhizal pathway. Increased pH in the apoplast of abnormal arbuscule-containing cells of the ha1-2 mutant compared with the wild type suggests that HA1 is crucial for building a proton gradient across the PAM and therefore is indispensible for the transfer of Pi from the fungus to the plant.
Publications

Frenzel, A.; Tiller, N.; Hause, B.; Krajinski, F.; The conserved arbuscular mycorrhiza-specific transcription of the secretory lectin MtLec5 is mediated by a short upstream sequence containing specific protein binding sites Planta 224, 792-800, (2006) DOI: 10.1007/s00425-006-0262-8

In Medicago truncatula a family of mycorrhiza-specific expressed lectins has been identified recently, but the function and regulation of these lectins during the arbuscular mycorrhiza symbiosis are still unknown. In order to characterize a first member of this protein family, MtLec5 was analyzed concerning its localization and regulation. Confocal laser scanning microscopy showed that MtLec5 is a secretory protein indicating a role as a vegetative storage protein, which is specifically expressed in mycorrhizal root systems. To study the molecular mechanisms leading to the mycorrhiza-specific transcription, deletion studies of pMtLec5 were done using reporter gene fusions. Potential cis-acting elements could be narrowed down to a 150 bp fragment that was located approximately at −300/−150 according to the transcription start, suggesting the binding of positive regulators to this area. Similar expression pattern of the reporter gene was found after transforming roots of the non-legume Nicotiana tabacum with the heterologous promoter–reporter fusions. This indicated that the observed mycorrhiza-specific transcriptional induction is not legume-specific. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays showed that several factors which were exclusively present in mycorrhizal roots bind within the 150 bp promoter area. This strengthens the hypothesis of positive regulators mediating the AM-specific gene expression.
Publications

Krajinski, F.; Hause, B.; Gianinazzi-Pearson, V.; Franken, P.; Mtha1, a Plasma Membrane H+-ATPase Gene from Medicago truncatula, Shows Arbuscule-Specific Induced Expression in Mycorrhizal Tissue Plant Biol. 4, 754-761, (2003) DOI: 10.1055/s-2002-37407

Transport processes between plant and fungal cells are key elements in arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM), where H+‐ATPases are considered to be involved in active uptake of nutrients from the symbiotic interface. Genes encoding H+‐ATPases were identified in the genome of Medicago truncatula and three cDNA fragments of the H+‐ATPase gene family (Mtha 1 ‐ 3) were obtained by RT‐PCR using RNA from M. truncatula mycorrhizal roots as template. While Mtha 2 and Mtha 3 appeared to be constitutively expressed in roots and unaffected by AM development, transcripts of Mtha 1 could only be detected in AM tissues and not in controls. Further analyses by RT‐PCR revealed that Mtha 1 transcripts are not detectable in shoots and phosphate availability did not affect RNA accumulation of the gene. Localization of transcripts by in situ hybridization on AM tissues showed that Mtha 1 RNA accumulates only in cells containing fungal arbuscules. This is the first report of arbuscule‐specific induced expression of a plant H+‐ATPase gene in mycorrhizal tissues.
Publications

Doll, J.; Hause, B.; Demchenko, K.; Pawlowski, K.; Krajinski, F.; A Member of the Germin-Like Protein Family is a Highly Conserved Mycorrhiza-Specific Induced Gene Plant Cell Physiol. 44, 1208-1214, (2003) DOI: 10.1093/pcp/pcg153

A Medicago truncatula cDNA encoding a germin-like protein (GLP) was isolated from a suppression subtractive hybridization cDNA library enriched for arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM)-induced genes. The MtGLP1 amino acid sequence shows some striking differences to previously described plant GLP sequences and might therefore represent a new subgroup of this multigene family. The MtGlp1 mRNA was strongly induced in roots and root cultures colonized by the AM fungus Glomus intraradices. Whereas MtGlp1 is strongly induced in AM, no transcripts of the gene were detected in non-infected roots or in roots after infection with the oomycete root pathogen Aphanomyces euteiches or with Rhizobia. Increased phosphate levels during fertilization also could not stimulate MtGlp1 transcription. Hence, MtGlp1 induction seems to be an AM-specific phenomenon. In situ hybridization showed that MtGlp1 is localized in arbuscule containing cells. A putative orthologue of this AM-specific GLP gene could be localized in a second legume Lotus japonicus, indicating that the regulation of a member of the GLP family belongs to a conserved mechanism in AM regulation in different plant species.
IPB Mainnav Search