This bumper edition of the Arabidopsis Research Roundup includes a wide range of research topics. Firstly Mike Roberts leads a study that adds another layer of complexity to our understanding of the factors that control seed dormancy. Secondly a paper from Ottoline Leyser’s lab at SLCU provides more details regarding the role of BRC1 during shoot branching. Next is a paper that continues David Salt’s collaborative work that aims to understand how the root endodermal barrier influences nutrient uptake. Fourthly is work from Bristol that looks at the interaction between viral infection, the structure of the leaf surface and the polarization of reflected light. The fifth paper features a wide collaboration from the Sainsbury lab in Norwich and aims to more fully understand the factors that lead to non-host infection by Phytophthora infestans. The penultimate paper looks at the interaction of aldolase enzymes with the plant actin cytoskeleton and the final paper brings us full circle back to seed dormancy where researchers from University of Warwick investigate the link between this complex growth response and the circadian clock.
Singh P, Dave A, Vaistij FE, Worrall D, Holroyd GH, Wells JG, Kaminski F, Graham IA, Roberts MR (2017) Jasmonic acid-dependent regulation of seed dormancy following maternal herbivory in Arabidopsis. New Phytol http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nph.14525
Open Access
Mike Roberts (University of Lancaster) kindly provides an audio description of this paper on the GARNet YouTube channel, explaining that, in collaboration with Ian Graham at the University of York, they have identified a new control mechanism that links jasmonic acid, herbivory and seed dormancy. ABA and GA are known to be important hormones in the control of seed dormancy but this study adds complexity to this story by showing that following herbivory (or leaf wounding), the level of JA increases within Arabidopsis seeds. Perhaps counter-intuitively, in the following generation this leads to a reduction in dormancy, causing seed to germinate sooner than those from non-predated parents. The authors show that this is due to an increase in JA within seeds that importantly also alters sensitivity to ABA. Unlike transgenerational defence priming that acts through a epigenetic mechanism and persists for multiple generations , this study shows that the JA effect on seeds is a more direct response. Ultimately the mechanism in which parents prepare their offspring for subsequent generations is a complex trade off between multiple sources of predation and pathogenesis, environmental factors as well as through the effect of interacting hormone signaling pathways.
Seale M, Bennett T, Leyser O (2017) BRC1 expression regulates bud activation potential, but is not necessary or sufficient for bud growth inhibition in Arabidopsis. Development http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/dev.145649 Open Access
This is the latest contribution from Ottoline Leyser’s lab that looks into the hormonal control of shoot branching. A key determinant of this process is the transcription factor, BRANCHED1 (BRC1) yet this study shows that under certain conditions, in this case with varied amount of strigolactone, the controlling effect of BRC1 expression levels can be mitigated. The authors provide evidence for a mechanism for branching control that involves the coordinated activity of BRC1 and an auxin-transport mechanism, both of which are influenced by a separate strigolactone-mediated signaling pathway.
Li B, Kamiya T, Kalmbach L, Yamagami M, Yamaguchi K, Shigenobu S, Sawa S, Danku JM, Salt DE, Geldner N, Fujiwara T (2017) Role of LOTR1 in Nutrient Transport through Organization of Spatial Distribution of Root Endodermal Barriers. Current Biology
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.01.030
Former GARNet chairman David Salt is a co-author on this paper that is lead by Japanese and Swiss colleagues and continues his work on the development of the casparian strip. These rings of lignin polymers are deposited within root endodermal cells and play a key role in the movement of water and nutrients into the vascular tissue. Suberin lamellae have a similar function and surround endodermal cells, likely acting as a barrier to apoplastic movement. This paper documents the identification of the Tolkienesquely-named LOTR1, which is essential for casparian strip formation. Lotr1 mutants show disrupted casparian strips, ectopic suberization and reduced calcium accumulation in the shoot. Further analysis demonstrates that it is this suberized layer substitutes for the CS in regions of lateral root emergence. Utliamtely they show that the relationship between suberization of the endodermal layer is a key determinant of calcium movement into the root and then around the rest of the plant.
Maxwell DJ, Partridge JC, Roberts NW, Boonham N, Foster GD (2017) The effects of surface structure mutations in Arabidopsis thaliana on the polarization of reflections from virus-infected leaves. PLoS One
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174014.g003 Open Access
Gary Foster (University of Bristol) leads this study that continues his labs work on the effect that viral infection has on light polarization when reflected off leaves. This attribute is important to attract insect predators, which in turn increase the possibility of successful viral transmission. Light polarization is affected by structures on the leaf surface such as trichomes or the makeup of the waxy cuticle. Here the authors show that the cer5 wax synthesis mutant alters the polarization of light following infection with Turnip vein clearing virus (TVCV) but not following infection with Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). The paper provides no mechanism for this difference but the authors do show that leaf viral titre is equivalent in these mutants and therefore speculate that these changes might influence transmission of each virus by a different insect carrier that in turn responses to different patterns of polarized light.
Prince DC, Rallapalli G, Xu D, Schoonbeek HJ, Çevik V,, Asai S,, Kemen E,, Cruz-Mireles N, Kemen A,, Belhaj K, Schornack S,, Kamoun S, Holub EB, Halkier BA, Jones JD (2017) Albugo-imposed changes to tryptophan-derived antimicrobial metabolite biosynthesis may contribute to suppression of non-host resistance to Phytophthora infestans in Arabidopsis thaliana. BMC Biol.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12915-017-0360-z Open Access
This paper is a wide collaboration that features many colleagues from the Sainsbury lab in Norwich. Wildtype Arabidopsis plants are suspectible to Phytophthora infestans only after earlier infection with Albugo laibachii yet the molecular explanation of this complex interaction between plant and microbes remained opaque. This study demonstrates that Albugo infection alters the levels of a set of tryptophan-derived antimicrobial compounds, which were then found to be relevant for infection with P.infestans. This shows that these antimicrobial compounds might be key for the general maintenance of non-host resistance and might provide important information to aid future strategies to improve food security by reducing biomass loss due to plant pathogens.
Garagounis C, Kostaki KI, Hawkins TJ, Cummins I, Fricker MD, Hussey PJ, Hetherington AM2, Sweetlove LJ (2017) Microcompartmentation of cytosolic aldolase by interaction with the actin cytoskeleton in Arabidopsis. J Exp Bot.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erx015
This collaboration between the Universities of Oxford, Bristol and Durham looks into the functional role that molecular microcompartments play in the workings of a cell. Animal models have shown that certain aldolase enzymes are able to function as actin-bundling proteins and so this study focuses on a major plant cytosolic aldolase, FBA8, which is predicted to have two actin binding sites. Although the authors could not detect co-localisation of FBA8-RFP with the actin cytoskeleton they provide in vitro evidence that FBA8 can functionally interact with F-actin. In addition in fba8 mutants there is altered arrangement of actin filaments in guard cells that concomitantly results in a reduced rate of stomatal closure. Therefore these findings leads the authors to propose that FBA8 is able to subtly interact with actin in vivo, evidenced by some FRET-FLIM experiments, and that this may modulate actin dependent cell responses.
Footitt S, Ölcer-Footitt H, Hambidge AJ, Finch-Savage WE (2017) A laboratory simulation of Arabidopsis seed dormancy cycling provides new insight into its regulation by clock genes and the dormancy-related genes DOG1, MFT, CIPK23 and PHYA. Plant Cell Environ http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/pce.12940
William Savage-Finch (University of Warwick) is the corresponding author on this paper that investigates mechanisms that control seed dormancy, which has been built from the analysis of a variety of genetic and environmental factors. They test their predictions by testing a range of mutants in both known dormancy related genes and in the function of the circadian clock. This provides a link between the circadian cycle and the daily variation in the level of seed dormancy in Arabidopsis.
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