Publikationen - Molekulare Signalverarbeitung

0

Despite the vital roles of jasmonoyl-isoleucine (JA-Ile) in governing plant growth and environmental acclimation, it remains unclear what intracellular processes lead to its induction. Here, we provide compelling genetic evidence that mechanical and osmotic regulation of turgor pressure represents a key elicitor of JA-Ile biosynthesis. After identifying cell wall mutant alleles in KORRIGAN1 (KOR1) with elevated JA-Ile in seedling roots, we found that ectopic JA-Ile resulted from cell nonautonomous signals deriving from enlarged cortex cells compressing inner tissues and stimulating JA-Ile production. Restoring cortex cell size by cell type–specific KOR1 complementation, by isolating a genetic kor1 suppressor, and by lowering turgor pressure with hyperosmotic treatments abolished JA-Ile signaling. Conversely, hypoosmotic treatment activated JA-Ile signaling in wild-type plants. Furthermore, constitutive JA-Ile levels guided mutant roots toward greater water availability. Collectively, these findings enhance our understanding on JA-Ile biosynthesis initiation and reveal a previously undescribed role of JA-Ile in orchestrating environmental resilience.

Jasmonic acid biosynthesis starts in chloroplasts and is finalized in peroxisomes. The required export of a crucial intermediate out of the chloroplast is now shown to be mediated by a protein from the outer envelope called JASSY.

0

Multicellular organisms rely on the movement of signaling molecules across cells, tissues, and organs to communicate among distal sites. In plants, localized leaf damage activates jasmonic acid (JA)-dependent transcriptional reprogramming in both harmed and unharmed tissues. Although it has been indicated that JA species can translocate from damaged into distal sites, the identity of the mobile compound(s), the tissues through which they translocate, and the effect of their relocation remain unknown. Here, we found that following shoot wounding, the relocation of endogenous jasmonates through the phloem is essential to initiate JA signaling and stunt growth in unharmed roots of Arabidopsis thaliana. By employing grafting experiments and hormone profiling, we uncovered that the hormone precursor cis-12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA) and its derivatives, but not the bioactive JA-Ile conjugate, translocate from wounded shoots into undamaged roots. Upon root relocation, the mobile precursors cooperatively regulated JA responses through their conversion into JA-Ile and JA signaling activation. Collectively, our findings demonstrate the existence of long-distance translocation of endogenous OPDA and its derivatives, which serve as mobile molecules to coordinate shoot-to-root responses, and highlight the importance of a controlled redistribution of hormone precursors among organs during plant stress acclimation.

Soil pollutants may affect root growth through interactions among phytohormones like auxin and jasmonates. Rice is frequently grown in paddy fields contaminated by cadmium and arsenic, but the effects of these pollutants on jasmonates/auxin crosstalk during adventitious and lateral roots formation are widely unknown. Therefore, seedlings of Oryza sativa cv. Nihonmasari and of the jasmonate-biosynthetic mutant coleoptile photomorphogenesis2 were exposed to cadmium and/or arsenic, and/or jasmonic acid methyl ester, and then analysed through morphological, histochemical, biochemical and molecular approaches.In both genotypes, arsenic and cadmium accumulated in roots more than shoots. In the roots, arsenic levels were more than twice higher than cadmium levels, either when arsenic was applied alone, or combined with cadmium. Pollutants reduced lateral root density in the wild -type in every treatment condition, but jasmonic acid methyl ester increased it when combined with each pollutant. Interestingly, exposure to cadmium and/or arsenic did not change lateral root density in the mutant. The transcript levels of OsASA2 and OsYUCCA2, auxin biosynthetic genes, increased in the wild-type and mutant roots when pollutants and jasmonic acid methyl ester were applied alone. Auxin (indole-3-acetic acid) levels transiently increased in the roots with cadmium and/or arsenic in the wild-type more than in the mutant. Arsenic and cadmium, when applied alone, induced fluctuations in bioactive jasmonate contents in wild-type roots, but not in the mutant. Auxin distribution was evaluated in roots of OsDR5::GUS seedlings exposed or not to jasmonic acid methyl ester added or not with cadmium and/or arsenic. The DR5::GUS signal in lateral roots was reduced by arsenic, cadmium, and jasmonic acid methyl ester. Lipid peroxidation, evaluated as malondialdehyde levels, was higher in the mutant than in the wild-type, and increased particularly in As presence, in both genotypes.Altogether, the results show that an auxin/jasmonate interaction affects rice root system development in the presence of cadmium and/or arsenic, even if exogenous jasmonic acid methyl ester only slightly mitigates pollutants toxicity.

For the first time in 25 years, a new pathway for biosynthesis of jasmonic acid (JA) has been identified. JA production takes place via 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA) including reduction by OPDA reductases (OPRs). A loss-of-function allele, opr3-3, revealed an OPR3-independent pathway converting OPDA to JA.

Auxin is an essential regulator of plant growth and development, and auxin signaling components are conserved among land plants. Yet, a remarkable degree of natural variation in physiological and transcriptional auxin responses has been described among Arabidopsis thaliana accessions. As intraspecies comparisons offer only limited genetic variation, we here inspect the variation of auxin responses between A. thaliana and A. lyrata. This approach allowed the identification of conserved auxin response genes including novel genes with potential relevance for auxin biology. Furthermore, promoter divergences were analyzed for putative sources of variation. De novo motif discovery identified novel and variants of known elements with potential relevance for auxin responses, emphasizing the complex, and yet elusive, code of element combinations accounting for the diversity in transcriptional auxin responses. Furthermore, network analysis revealed correlations of interspecies differences in the expression of AUX/IAA gene clusters and classic auxin-related genes. We conclude that variation in general transcriptional and physiological auxin responses may originate substantially from functional or transcriptional variations in the TIR1/AFB, AUX/IAA, and ARF signaling network. In that respect, AUX/IAA gene expression divergence potentially reflects differences in the manner in which different species transduce identical auxin signals into gene expression responses.

BackgroundGlobal increase in ambient temperatures constitute a significant challenge to wild and cultivated plant species. Forward genetic analyses of individual temperature-responsive traits have resulted in the identification of several signaling and response components. However, a comprehensive knowledge about temperature sensitivity of different developmental stages and the contribution of natural variation is still scarce and fragmented at best.ResultsHere, we systematically analyze thermomorphogenesis throughout a complete life cycle in ten natural Arabidopsis thaliana accessions grown under long day conditions in four different temperatures ranging from 16 to 28 °C. We used Q10, GxE, phenotypic divergence and correlation analyses to assess temperature sensitivity and genotype effects of more than 30 morphometric and developmental traits representing five phenotype classes. We found that genotype and temperature differentially affected plant growth and development with variing strengths. Furthermore, overall correlations among phenotypic temperature responses was relatively low which seems to be caused by differential capacities for temperature adaptations of individual accessions.ConclusionGenotype-specific temperature responses may be attractive targets for future forward genetic approaches and accession-specific thermomorphogenesis maps may aid the assessment of functional relevance of known and novel regulatory components.

Auxin is an essential regulator of plant growth and development and auxin signaling components are conserved among land plants. Yet, a remarkable degree of natural variation in physiological and transcriptional auxin responses has been described among Arabidopsis thaliana accessions. As intra-species comparisons offer only limited genetic variation, we here inspect the variation of auxin responses between A. thaliana and A. lyrata. This approach allowed the identification of conserved auxin response genes including novel genes with potential relevance for auxin biology. Furthermore, promoter divergences were analyzed for putative sources of variation. De novo motif discovery identified novel and variants of known elements with potential relevance for auxin responses, emphasizing the complex, and yet elusive, code of element combinations accounting for the diversity in transcriptional auxin responses. Furthermore, network analysis revealed correlations of inter-species differences in the expression of AUX/IAA gene clusters and classic auxin-related genes. We conclude that variation in general transcriptional and physiological auxin responses may originate substantially from functional or transcriptional variations in the TIR1/AFB, AUX/IAA, and ARF signaling network. In that respect, AUX/IAA gene expression divergence potentially reflects differences in the manner in which different species transduce identical auxin signals into gene expression responses.