Publikationen - Molekulare Signalverarbeitung

Although jasmonates (JAs) are involved in germination and seedling development, the regulatory mechanism of JAs, and their relation with endogenous level modifications in these processes, is not well understood. We report here the detection of 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA), jasmonic acid (JA), 11-hydroxyjasmonate (11-OH-JA), 12-hydroxyjasmonate (12-OH-JA) and methyljasmonate (JAME) in unimbibed seeds and seedlings of tomato Lycopersicon esculentum Mill cv. Moneymaker (wild type) and tss1, tss2, tos1 mutants. The main compounds in wild-type and tss1, tss2, tos1 seeds were the hydroxylate-JAs; 12-OH-JA was the major component in dry seeds of the wild type and in tss2 and tos1. The amounts of these derivatives were higher in seeds than in seedlings. Changes in JAs during wild-type and tss1 imbibition were analysed in seeds and the imbibition water. In wild-type imbibed seeds, 11-OH-JA content was higher than in tss1. 12-OH-JA showed a different tendency with respect to 11-OH-JA, with high levels in the wild type at early imbibition. In tss1, levels of 12-OH-JA rose from 24 to 48 h of imbibition. At 72 h of imbibition, when radicles had emerged, the amounts of both hydroxylates in wild-type and tss1 seeds were minimal. An important release of the hydroxylate forms was observed in the imbibition water. 11-OH-JA decreased in the imbibition water of wild-type seeds at 48 h. On the contrary, a high and sustained liberation of this compound was observed in tss1 after 24 h. 12-OH-JA increased in wild-type as well in tss1 until 24 h. Thereafter, a substantial reduction in the content of this compound was registered. NaCl-treated wild-type seedlings increased their 12-OH-JA, but tss1 seedlings increased their JA in response to salt treatment. In tss2 seedlings, NaCl caused a slight decrease in 11-OH-JA and JAME, whereas tos1 seedlings showed a dramatic OPDA and 12-OH-JA decrease in response to salt treatment. Under salt stress the mutant seedlings showed different patterns of JAs according to their differential hypersensitivity to abiotic stress. The JA-hydroxylate forms found, and the differential accumulation of JAs during germination, imbibition and seedling development, as well as their response to NaCl stress, provide new evidence about the control of many developmental processes by JA.

In the present paper we study the possible biological relevance of endogenous jasmonic acid (JA) and exogenous salicylic acid (SA) in a plant-microbial system maize-virus. The virus disease "Mal de Río Cuarto" is caused by the maize rough dwarf virus - Río Cuarto. The characteristic symptoms are the appearance of galls or "enations" in leaves, shortening of the stem internodes, poor radical system and general stunting. Changes in JA and protein pattern in maize control and infected plants of a virus-tolerant cultivar were investigated. Healthy and infected-leaf discs were collected for JA measurement at different post-infection times (20, 40, 60 and 68 days). JA was also measured in roots on day 60 after infection. For SDS-PAGE protein analysis, leaf discs were also harvested on day 60 after infection. Infected leaves showed higher levels of JA than healthy leaves, and the rise in endogenous JA coincided with the enation formation. The soluble protein amount did not show differences between infected and healthy leaves; moreover, no difference in the expression of soluble protein was revealed by SDS-PAGE. Our results show that the octadecanoid pathway was stimulated in leaves and roots of the tolerant maize cultivar when infected by this virus. This finding, together with fewer plants with the disease symptoms, suggest that higher foliar and roots JA content may be related to disease tolerance. SA exogenous treatment caused the reversion of the dwarfism symptom.

Glutaminyl cyclase (QC, EC 2.3.2.5) catalyzes the formation of pyroglutamate residues from glutamine at the N-terminus of peptides and proteins. In the current study, human QC was functionally expressed in the secretory pathway of Pichia pastoris, yielding milligram quantities after purification from the supernatant of a 5 L fermentation. Initial characterization studies of the recombinant QC using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry revealed correct proteolytic processing and N-glycosylation at both potential sites with similar 2 kDa extensions. CD spectral analysis indicated a high α-helical content, which contrasts with plant QC from Carica papaya. The kinetic parameters for conversion of H-Gln-Tyr-Ala-OH by recombinant human QC were almost identical to those previously reported for purified bovine pituitary QC. However, the results obtained for conversion of H-Gln-Gln-OH, H-Gln-NH2, and H-Gln-AMC were found to be contradictory to previous studies on human QC expressed intracellularly in E. coli. Expression of QC in E. coli showed that approximately 50% of the protein did not contain a disulfide bond that is present in the entire QC expressed in P. pastoris. Further, the enzyme was consistently inactivated by treatment with 15 mM DTT, whereas deglycosylation had no effect on enzymatic activity. Analysis of the fluorescence spectra of the native, reduced, and unfolded human QC point to a conformational change of the protein upon treatment with DTT. In terms of the different enzymatic properties, the consequences of QC expression in different environments are discussed.