Publikationen - Molekulare Signalverarbeitung

The mutation rates of viroids, plant pathogens with minimal non-protein-coding RNA genomes, are unknown. Their replication is mediated by host RNA polymerases and, in some cases, by hammerhead ribozymes, small self-cleaving motifs embedded in the viroid. By using the principle that the population frequency of nonviable genotypes equals the mutation rate, we screened for changes that inactivated the hammerheads of Chrysanthemum chlorotic mottle viroid. We obtained a mutation rate of 1/400 per site, the highest reported for any biological entity. Such error-prone replication can only be tolerated by extremely simple genomes such as those of viroids and, presumably, the primitive replicons of the RNA world. Our results suggest that the emergence of replication fidelity was critical for the evolution of complexity in the early history of life.

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This chapter presents jasmonates and their related compounds and discusses jasmonate-induced alteration of gene expression. Jasmonates exerts two different changes in gene expression— decrease in the expression of nuclear- and chloroplast-encoded genes and increase in the expression of specific genes. Jasmonates are shown to alter sink-source relationships such as JA promotes formation of the N-rich vegetative storage proteins—VSPα and VSPβ—of soybean, including reallocation in pod filling. In addition to such nutrient reallocation to other parts of the plant, jasmonates cause decreases in photosynthesis and chlorophyll content, the most significant manifestations of senescence in leaves. The rise of endogenous jasmonates upon stress or exogenous treatment with jasmonates correlates in time with the expression of various genes. The promotion of senescence by jasmonates is counteracted by cytokinins. The capacity of jasmonates to down regulate photosynthetic genes may also be one determinant in the onset of senescence.