Publikationen - Molekulare Signalverarbeitung

Jasmonic acid (JA) signaling can be switched off by metabolism of JA. The master regulator MYC2, interacting with MED25, has been shown to be deactivated by the bHLH transcription factors MTB1, MTB2, and MTB3. An autoregulatory negative feedback loop has been proposed for this termination in JA signaling.

Electric signaling and Ca2+ waves were discussed to occur in systemic wound responses. Two new overlapping scenarios were identified: (i) membrane depolarization in two special cell types followed by an increase in systemic cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]cyt), and (ii) glutamate sensed by GLUTAMATE RECEPTOR LIKE proteins and followed by Ca2+-based defense in distal leaves.

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.

Combining transcriptome data of biological processes or response to stimuli with evolutionary information such as the phylogenetic conservation of genes or their sequence divergence rates enables the investigation of evolutionary constraints on these processes or responses. Such phylotranscriptomic analyses recently unraveled that mid-developmental transcriptomes of fly, fish, and cress were dominated by evolutionarily conserved genes and genes under negative selection and thus recapitulated the developmental hourglass on the transcriptomic level. Here, we present a protocol for performing phylotranscriptomic analyses on any biological process of interest. When applying this protocol, users are capable of detecting different evolutionary constraints acting on different stages of the biological process of interest in any species. For each step of the protocol, modular and easy-to-use open-source software tools are provided, which enable a broad range of scientists to apply phylotranscriptomic analyses to a wide spectrum of biological questions.

The historic developmental hourglass concept depicts the convergence of animal embryos to a common form during the phylotypic period. Recently, it has been shown that a transcriptomic hourglass is associated with this morphological pattern, consistent with the idea of underlying selective constraints due to intense molecular interactions during body plan establishment. Although plants do not exhibit a morphological hourglass during embryogenesis, a transcriptomic hourglass has nevertheless been identified in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Here, we investigated whether plant hourglass patterns are also found post-embryonically. We found that the two main phase changes during the life cycle of Arabidopsis, from embryonic to vegetative and from vegetative to reproductive development, are associated with transcriptomic hourglass patterns. In contrast, flower development, a process dominated by organ formation, is not. This suggests that plant hourglass patterns are decoupled from organogenesis and body plan establishment. Instead, they may reflect general transitions through organizational checkpoints.

Oilseed germination is characterized by the mobilization of storage lipids as a carbon source for the germinating seedling. In spite of the importance of lipid mobilization, its mechanism is only partially understood. Recent data suggest that a novel degradation mechanism is initiated by a 13-lipoxygenase during germination, using esterified fatty acids specifically as substrates. This 13-lipoxygenase reaction leads to a transient accumulation of ester lipid hydroperoxides in the storage lipids, and the corresponding oxygenated fatty acid moieties are preferentially removed by specific lipases. The free hydroperoxy fatty acids are subsequently reduced to their hydroxy derivatives, which might in turn undergo β-oxidation.

Jasmonic acid is distributed throughout higher plants, synthesized from linolenic acid via the octadecanoic pathway. An important and probably essential role seems to be its operation as a ‘master switch’, responsible for the activation of signal transduction pathways in response to predation and pathogen attack. Proteins encoded by jasmonate-induced genes include enzymes of alkaloid and phytoalexin synthesis, storage proteins, cell wall constituents and stress protectants. The wound-induced formation of proteinase inhibitors is a well-studied example, in which jasmonic acid combines with abscisic acid and ethylene to protect the plant from predation.