Publikationen - Molekulare Signalverarbeitung

Two cDNAs encoding allene oxide cyclases (PpAOC1, PpAOC2), key enzymes in the formation of jasmonic acid (JA) and its precursor (9S,13S)‐12‐oxo‐phytodienoic acid (cis‐(+)‐OPDA), were isolated from the moss Physcomitrella patens.Recombinant PpAOC1 and PpAOC2 show substrate specificity against the allene oxide derived from 13‐hydroperoxy linolenic acid (13‐HPOTE); PpAOC2 also shows substrate specificity against the allene oxide derived from 12‐hydroperoxy arachidonic acid (12‐HPETE).In protonema and gametophores the occurrence of cis‐(+)‐OPDA, but neither JA nor the isoleucine conjugate of JA nor that of cis‐(+)‐OPDA was detected.Targeted knockout mutants for PpAOC1 and for PpAOC2 were generated, while double mutants could not be obtained. The ΔPpAOC1 and ΔPpAOC2 mutants showed reduced fertility, aberrant sporophyte morphology and interrupted sporogenesis.

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.