Publikationen - Molekulare Signalverarbeitung

Infection by viroids, non-protein-coding circular RNAs, occurs with the accumulation of 21–24 nt viroid-derived small RNAs (vd-sRNAs) with characteristic properties of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) associated to RNA silencing. The vd-sRNAs most likely derive from dicer-like (DCL) enzymes acting on viroid-specific dsRNA, the key elicitor of RNA silencing, or on the highly structured genomic RNA. Previously, viral dsRNAs delivered mechanically or agroinoculated have been shown to interfere with virus infection in a sequence-specific manner. Here, we report similar results with members of the two families of nuclear- and chloroplast-replicating viroids. Moreover, homologous vd-sRNAs co-delivered mechanically also interfered with one of the viroids examined. The interference was sequence-specific, temperature-dependent and, in some cases, also dependent on the dose of the co-inoculated dsRNA or vd-sRNAs. The sequence-specific nature of these effects suggests the involvement of the RNA induced silencing complex (RISC), which provides sequence specificity to RNA silencing machinery. Therefore, viroid titer in natural infections might be regulated by the concerted action of DCL and RISC. Viroids could have evolved their secondary structure as a compromise between resistance to DCL and RISC, which act preferentially against RNAs with compact and relaxed secondary structures, respectively. In addition, compartmentation, association with proteins or active replication might also help viroids to elude their host RNA silencing machinery.

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.