Publikationen - Molekulare Signalverarbeitung

Jasmonates (JAs) and salicylic acid (SA) are plant hormones that play pivotal roles in the regulation of induced defenses against microbial pathogens and insect herbivores. Their signaling pathways cross-communicate providing the plant with a regulatory potential to finely tune its defense response to the attacker(s) encountered. In Arabidopsis thaliana, SA strongly antagonizes the jasmonic acid (JA) signaling pathway, resulting in the downregulation of a large set of JA-responsive genes, including the marker genes PDF1.2 and VSP2. Induction of JA-responsive marker gene expression by different JA derivatives was equally sensitive to SA-mediated suppression. Activation of genes encoding key enzymes in the JA biosynthesis pathway, such as LOX2, AOS, AOC2, and OPR3 was also repressed by SA, suggesting that the JA biosynthesis pathway may be a target for SA-mediated antagonism. To test this, we made use of the mutant aos/dde2, which is completely blocked in its ability to produce JAs because of a mutation in the ALLENE OXIDE SYNTHASE gene. Mutant aos/dde2 plants did not express the JA-responsive marker genes PDF1.2 or VSP2 in response to infection with the necrotrophic fungus Alternaria brassicicola or the herbivorous insect Pieris rapae. Bypassing JA biosynthesis by exogenous application of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) rescued this JA-responsive phenotype in aos/dde2. Application of SA suppressed MeJA-induced PDF1.2 expression to the same level in the aos/dde2 mutant as in wild-type Col-0 plants, indicating that SA-mediated suppression of JA-responsive gene expression is targeted at a position downstream of the JA biosynthesis pathway.

The phytohormone auxin is a potent regulator of plant development. Since its discovery in the beginning of the twentieth century many aspects of auxin biology have been extensively studied, ranging from biosynthesis and metabolism to the elucidation of molecular components of downstream signaling. With the identification of the F-box protein TIR1 as an auxin receptor a major breakthrough in understanding auxin signaling has been achieved and recent modeling approaches have shed light on the putative mechanisms underlying the establishment of auxin gradients and maxima essential for many auxin-regulated processes. Here, we review these and other recent advances in unraveling the entanglement of biosynthesis, polar transport and cellular signaling events that allow small auxinic molecules to facilitate their complex regulatory action.

During the early stages of germination, a lipid-body lipoxygenase is expressed in the cotyledons of sunflowers (Helianthus annuus L.). In order to obtain evidence for the in vivo activity of this enzyme during germination, we analyzed the lipoxygenase-dependent metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acids esterified in the storage lipids. For this purpose, lipid bodies were isolated from etiolated sunflower cotyledons at different stages of germination, and the storage triacylglycerols were analyzed for oxygenated derivatives. During the time course of germination the amount of oxygenated storage lipids was strongly augmented, and we detected triacylglycerols containing one, two or three residues of (9Z,11E,13S)-13-hydro(pero)xy-octadeca-9,11-dienoic acid. Glyoxysomes from etiolated sunflower cotyledons converted (9Z,11E,13S)-13-hydroxy-octadeca-9,11-dienoic acid to (9Z,11E)-13-oxo-octadeca-9,11-dienoic acid via an NADH-dependent dehydrogenase reaction. Both oxygenated fatty acid derivatives were activated to the corresponding CoA esters and subsequently metabolized to compounds of shorter chain length. Cofactor requirement and formation of acetyl-CoA indicate degradation via β-oxidation. However, β-oxidation only proceeded for two consecutive cycles, leading to accumulation of a medium-chain metabolite carrying an oxo group at C-9, equivalent to C-13 of the parent (9Z,11E,13S)-13-hydroxy-octadeca-9,11-dienoic acid. Short-chain β-oxidation intermediates were not detected during incubation. Similar results were obtained when 13-hydroxy octadecanoic acid was used as β-oxidation substrate. On the other hand, the degradation of (9Z,11E)-octadeca-9,11-dienoic acid was accompanied by the appearance of short-chain β-oxidation intermediates in the reaction mixture. The results suggest that the hydroxyl/oxo group at C-13 of lipoxygenase-derived fatty acids forms a barrier to continuous β-oxidation by glyoxysomes.

The accumulation of abundant proteins and their respective transcripts, induced by 10−4 M cisabscisic acid or 10−5 M jasmonic acid methyl ester, was studied in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) leaf segments and compared to that resulting from osmotic stress caused by floating the segments on solutions of sorbitol, glucose, polyethyleneglycol (PEG)-6000 or NaCl. Osmotic stress or treatment with abscisic acid led to the synthesis of novel proteins which were identical to jasmonateinduced proteins (JIPs) with respect to immunological properties and molecular masses. The most prominent polypeptides were characterized by molecular masses of 66, 37 and 23 kDa and were newly synthesized. Whereas sorbitol, mannitol, sucrose, glucose and PEG provoked the synthesis of JIPs, 2deoxyglucose and NaCl did not. We provide evidence that the synthesis of JIPs induced by osmotic stress is directly correlated with a preceding rise in endogenous jasmonates. These jasmonates, quantified by an enzyme immunoassay specific for (−)jasmonic acid and its aminoacid conjugates, increased remarkably in leaf segments treated with sorbitol, glucose or other sugars. In contrast, no increase in jasmonates could be observed in tissues exposed to salts (NaCl). The results strengthen the hypothesis that the accumulation of jasmonates, probably by de-novo synthesis, is an intermediate and essential step in a signalling pathway between (osmotic) stress and activation of genes coding for polypeptides of high abundance.