Publikationen - Molekulare Signalverarbeitung

Viroids, due to their small size and lack of protein-coding capacity, must rely essentially on their hosts for replication. Intriguingly, viroids have evolved the ability to replicate in two cellular organella, the nucleus (family Pospiviroidae) and the chloroplast (family Avsunviroidae). Viroid replication proceeds through an RNA-based rolling-circle mechanism with three steps that, with some variations, operate in both polarity strands: i) synthesis of longer-than-unit strands catalyzed by either the nuclear RNA polymerase II or a nuclear-encoded chloroplastic RNA polymerase, in both instances redirected to transcribe RNA templates, ii) cleavage to unit-length, which in the family Avsunviroidae is mediated by hammerhead ribozymes embedded in both polarity strands, while in the family Pospiviroidae the oligomeric RNAs provide the proper conformation but not the catalytic activity, and iii) circularization. The host RNA polymerases, most likely assisted by additional host proteins, start transcription from specific sites, thus implying the existence of viroid promoters. Cleavage and ligation in the family Pospiviroidae is probably catalyzed by an RNase III-like enzyme and an RNA ligase able to circularize the resulting 5’ and 3’ termini. Whether a chloroplastic RNA ligase mediates circularization in the family Avsunviroidae, or this reaction is autocatalytic, remains an open issue.

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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.