Serine carboxypeptidases contain a conserved catalytic triad of serine, histidine, and aspartic acid active-site residues. These enzymes cleave the peptide bond between the penultimate and C-terminal amino acid residues of their protein or peptide substrates. The Arabidopsis Genome Initiative has revealed that the Arabidopsis genome encodes numerous proteins with homology to serine carboxypeptidases. Although many of these proteins may be involved in protein turnover or processing, the role of virtually all of these serine carboxypeptidase-like (SCPL) proteins in plant metabolism is unknown. We previously identified an Arabidopsis mutant, sng1 (sinapoylglucose accumulator 1), that is defective in synthesis of sinapoylmalate, one of the major phenylpropanoid secondary metabolites accumulated by Arabidopsis and some other members of the Brassicaceae. We have cloned the gene that is defective in sng1 and have found that it encodes a SCPL protein. Expression of SNG1 in Escherichia coli demonstrates that it encodes sinapoylglucose:malate sinapoyltransferase, an enzyme that catalyzes a transesterification instead of functioning like a hydrolase, as do the other carboxypeptidases. This finding suggests that SCPL proteins have acquired novel functions in plant metabolism and provides an insight into the evolution of secondary metabolic pathways in plants.

The induction of chitinase (CAChi2) mRNA started as early as 6 h after inoculation and gradually increased in the incompatible interaction of pepper stems with Phytophthora capsici. In the compatible interaction, the induction of the chitinase transcripts was detected later than that in the incompatible interaction. The CAChi2 mRNA was usually localized in the vascular tissues and their expression was constricted in the phloem-related cells. These results showed that the spatial pattern of CAChi2 mRNA expression was similar in both compatible and incompatible interactions but the temporal patterns were different from each other. In addition, the early induction ofCAChi2 mRNA was quite distinct in the incompatible interaction. Immunogold labelling data showed specific labelling of chitinase on the cell wall of the oomycete in both compatible and incompatible interactions at 24 h after inoculation. In particular, numerous gold particles were deposited on the cell wall of P. capsici with a predominant accumulation over areas showing signs of degradation in the incompatible interaction. Chitinase labelling was also detected in the intercellular space and the host cytoplasm. However, healthy pepper stem tissue was nearly free of labelling.

Stress-induced gene expression in barley (Hordeum vulgare cv Salome) leaves has been correlated with temporally changing levels of octadecanoids and jasmonates, quantified by means of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry-single ion monitoring. Application of sorbitol-induced stress led to a low and transient rise of jasmonic acid (JA), its precursor 12-oxophytodienoic acid (OPDA), and the methyl esters JAME and OPDAME, respectively, followed by a large increase in their levels. JA and JAME peaked between 12 and 16 h, about 4 h before OPDA and OPDAME. However, OPDA accumulated up to a 2.5-fold higher level than the other compounds. Dihomo-JA and 9,13-didehydro-OPDA were identified as minor components. Kinetic analyses revealed that a transient threshold of jasmonates or octadecanoids is necessary and sufficient to initiate JA-responsive gene expression. Although OPDA and OPDAME applied exogenously were metabolized to JA in considerable amounts, both of them can induce gene expression, as evidenced by those genes that did not respond to endogenously formed JA. Also, coronatine induces JA-responsive genes independently from endogenous JA. Application of deuterated JA showed that endogenous synthesis of JA is not induced by JA treatment. The data are discussed in terms of distinct signaling pathways.

The presence of 14 betalain pigments have been detected by their characteristic spectral properties in flower petals of Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera x buckleyi). Along with the known vulgaxanthin I, betalamic acid, betanin and phyllocactin (6′-O-malonylbetanin), the structure of a new phyllocactin-derived betacyanin was elucidated by various spectroscopic techniques and carbohydrate analyses as betanidin 5-O-(2′-O-β-D-apiofuranosyl-6′-O-malonyl)-β-D-glucopyranoside. Among the more complex betacyanins occurring in trace amounts, the presence of a new diacylated betacyanin {betanidin 5-O-[(5″-O-E-feruloyl)-2′-O-β-D-apiofuranosyl-6′-O-malonyl)]-β-D-glucopyranoside} has been ascertained. Furthermore, the accumulation of betalains during flower development and their pattern in different organs of the flower has been examined.

The molecular characterization of CYP72A1 from Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar periwinkle) was described nearly a decade ago, but the enzyme function remained unknown. We now show by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry that the expression in immature leaves is epidermis‐specific. It thus follows the pattern previously established for early enzymes in the pathway to indole alkaloids, suggesting that CYP72A1 may be involved in their biosynthesis. The early reactions in that pathway, i.e. from geraniol to strictosidine, contain several candidates for P450 activities. We investigated in this work two reactions, the conversion of 7‐deoxyloganin to loganin (deoxyloganin 7‐hydroxylase, DL7H) and the oxidative ring cleavage converting loganin into secologanin (secologanin synthase, SLS). The action of DL7H has not been demonstrated in vitro previously, and SLS has only recently been identified as P450 activity in one other plant. We show for the first time that both enzyme activities are present in microsomes from C . roseus cell cultures. We then tested whether CYP72A1 expressed in E. coli as a translational fusion with the C . roseus P450 reductase (P450Red) has one or both of these activities. The results show that CYP72A1 converts loganin into secologanin.

Race nonspecific resistance of barley against the barley powdery mildew fungus (Blumeria Graminis f.sp. Hordei, Speer, Bgh ) is mediated by recessive mlo alleles and is controlled by at least two additional genes ‘required for ml o‐specified disease resistance’ (Ror1 and Ror2 ). The pathogenesis‐related accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was comparatively analysed in a susceptible barley line (Hordeum vulgare L. Cv Ingrid, genotype Mlo Ror1, Ror2 ), a resistant Ingrid backcross line carrying the mutant allele mlo5 (BCIngrid‐mlo5, genotype mlo5 Ror1 Ror2 ), and in the moderately susceptible mutants A44 and A89 (genotypes mlo5 Ror1 ror2 and mlo5 ror1‐2 Ror2, respectively). In situ localization of H2O2 was performed by microscopic detection of 3,3‐diaminobenzidine (DAB) polymerization. In BCIngrid‐mlo5 , penetration resistance against Bgh attack was closely correlated to H2O2 accumulation in cytoplasmic aggregates and cell wall appositions beneath the appressorium. In contrast, H2O2 accumulation was almost completely absent in susceptible Ingrid. Lines with mutations in Ror genes showed less H2O2 accumulation beneath appressoria, but more interaction sites with whole cell H2O2 accumulation and hypersensitive cell death response than resistant BCIngrid‐mlo5 . Thus, mutations in Ror1 or Ror2 genes influence the cellular pattern of H2O2 accumulation in mlo plants attacked by Bgh . The data support the hypothesis that H2O2 accumulation is involved in resistance to fungal penetration.

The pathogenesis-related accumulation of superoxide radical anions (O·− 2) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was comparatively analyzed in a barley line (Hordeum vulgare L. cv Sultan-5) carrying the powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis f.sp. hordei, Speer, Bgh) resistance gene Mla12, and in susceptible mutants defective in Mla12 or in genes “required for Mla12-specified disease resistance” (Rar1 and Rar2). In-situ localization of reactive oxygen intermediates was performed both by microscopic detection of azide-insensitive nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) reduction or diaminobenzidine (DAB) polymerization, and by an NBT-DAB double-staining procedure. The Mla12-mediated hypersensitive cell death occurred either in attacked epidermal cells or adjacent mesophyll cells of wild-type plants. Whole-cell H2O2 accumulation was detected in dying cells, while O·− 2 emerged in adjacent cells. Importantly, all susceptible mutants lacked these reactions. An oxalate oxidase, which is known to generate H2O2 and has been implicated in barley resistance against the powdery mildew fungus, was not differentially expressed between the wild type and all mutants. The results demonstrate that the Rar1 and Rar2 gene products, which are control elements of R-gene-mediated programmed cell death, also control accumulation of reactive oxygen intermediates but not the pathogenesis-related expression of oxalate oxidase.

The opium poppy Papaver somniferum L. produces the antimicrobial benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloid sanguinarine and the narcotic analgesic morphinan alkaloid morphine. Transcripts of three genes of alkaloid biosynthesis in P. somniferum in developing seedlings, mature plants and plant cell suspension culture were monitored for temporal/spatial or for methyl jasmonate-induced accumulation by RNA gel blot analysis. These genes encoded (S)-N-methylcoclaurine 3′-hydroxylase (CYP80B1) that is common to morphine and sanguinarine biosynthesis, the berberine bridge enzyme (BBE) that lies on the pathway to sanguinarine, and codeinone reductase (COR) the penultimate enzyme of morphine biosynthesis. In developing P. somniferum seedlings, the morphine precursor thebaine was present throughout the first twenty days of germination. In contrast, sanguinarine was present in detectable quantities only after day five after germination and continued to increase at least until day twenty. Accumulation of cyp80b1, bbe1 and cor1 gene transcripts paralleled these differences. In the mature poppy plant, cyp80b1, bbe1 and cor1 gene transcripts were detected in the root, the stem, the leaf lamina and the leaf mid rib. Only cyp80b1 and cor1, however, were found in the flower bud and the capsule. Consistent with the fact that sanguinarine accumulation, but not that of morphine, can be induced in opium poppy cell suspension culture by addition of methyl jasmonate to the culture medium, cyp80b1 and bbe1, but not cor1 transcript accumulated in response to elicitor treatment.

In order to analyse the amino acid determinants which alter the positional specificity of plant lipoxygenases (LOXs), multiple LOX sequence alignments and structural modelling of the enzyme-substrate interactions were carried out. These alignments suggested three amino acid residues as the primary determinants of positional specificity. Here we show the generation of two plant LOXs with new positional specificities, a Δ-linoleneate 6-LOX and an arachidonate 11-LOX, by altering only one of these determinants within the active site of two plant LOXs. In the past, site-directed-mutagenesis studies have mainly been carried out with mammalian lipoxygenases (LOXs) [1]. In these experiments two regions have been identified in the primary structure containing sequence determinants for positional specificity. Amino acids aligning with the Sloane determinants [2] are highly conserved among plant LOXs. In contrast, there is amino acid hetero-geneity among plant LOXs at the position that aligns with P353 of the rabbit reticulocyte 15-LOX (Borngräber determinants) [3].

In the past, a good number of rotamer libraries have been published, which allow a deeper understanding of the conformational behavior of amino acid residues in proteins. Since the number of available high-resolution X-ray protein structures has grown significantly over the last years, a more comprehensive analysis of the conformational behavior is possible today. In this paper, we present a method to compile a new class of rotamer libraries for detecting interesting relationships between residue conformations and their sequential context in proteins. The method is based on a new algorithm for clustering residue conformations. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our method, we apply our algorithm to a library consisting of all 8000 tripeptide fragments formed by the 20 native amino acids. The analysis shows some very interesting new results, namely that some specific tripeptide fragments show some unexpected conformation of residues instead of the highly preferred conformation. In the neighborhood of two asparagine residues, for example, threonine avoids the conformation which is most likely to occur otherwise. The new insights obtained by the analysis are important in understanding the formation and prediction of secondary structure elements and will consequently be crucial for improving the state-of-the-art of protein folding.