Publikationen - Molekulare Signalverarbeitung

The hammerhead ribozyme, a small catalytic motif that promotes self-cleavage of the RNAs in which it is found naturally embedded, can be manipulated to recognize and cleave specifically in trans other RNAs in the presence of Mg2+. To be really effective, hammerheads need to operate at the low concentration of Mg2+ existing in vivo. Evidence has been gathered along the last years showing that tertiary stabilizing motifs (TSMs), particularly interactions between peripheral loops, are critical for the catalytic activity of hammerheads at physiological levels of Mg2+. These TSMs, in two alternative formats, have been incorporated into a new generation of more efficient trans-cleaving hammerheads, some of which are active in vitro and in planta when targeted against the highly structured RNA of a viroid (a small plant pathogen). This strategy has potential to confer protection against other RNA replicons, like RNA viruses infecting plants and animals.

We found three methyl jasmonate−induced lipoxygenases with molecular masses of 92 kDa, 98 kDa, and 100 kDa (LOX‐92, ‐98 and ‐100) [Feussner, I., Hause, B., Vörös, K., Parthier, B. & Wasternack, C. (1995) Plant J. 7 , 949−957]. At least two of them (LOX‐92 and LOX‐100), were shown to be localized within chloroplasts of barley leaves. Here, we describe the isolation of a cDNA (3073 bp) coding for LOX‐100, a protein of 936 amino acid residues and a molecular mass of 106 kDa. By sequence comparison this lipoxygenase could be identified as LOX2‐type lipoxygenase and was therefore designated LOX2 : Hv : 1 . The recombinant lipoxygenase was expressed in Escherichia coli and characterized as linoleate 13‐LOX and arachidonate 15‐LOX, respectively. The enzyme exhibited a pH optimum around pH 7.0 and a moderate substrate preference for linoleic acid. The gene was transiently expressed after exogenous application of jasmonic acid methyl ester with a maximum between 12 h and 18 h. Its expression was not affected by exogenous application of abscisic acid. Also a rise of endogenous jasmonic acid resulting from sorbitol stress did not induce LOX2 : Hv : 1 , suggesting a separate signalling pathway compared with other jasmonate‐induced proteins of barley. The properties of LOX2 : Hv : 1 are discussed in relation to its possible involvement in jasmonic acid biosynthesis and other LOX forms of barley identified so far.