There are six articles in this weeks Arabidopsis Research Roundup that bridge a diverse range of topics. Firstly lead author Deirdre McLachlan provides an audio description of a study that investigates the role of triacylglycerol breakdown in stomatal signaling. Secondly is a study that assesses the role of a Rab GTPase in control of anisotropic cell growth. The third and fourth papers looks into the defence response, focused on either JA or nitric oxide signaling. Finally are two papers that look into the response of Arabidopsis seedlings to growth on either arsenic or cadmium.
McLachlan DH, Lan J, Geilfus CM, Dodd AN, Larson T, Baker A, Hõrak H, Kollist H, He Z, Graham I, Mickelbart MV, Hetherington AM (2016) The Breakdown of Stored Triacylglycerols Is Required during Light-Induced Stomatal Opening Current Biology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.01.019 Open Access
The control of stomatal opening is a key environmental response to changes in CO2 levels and water availability. This study, led by Alistair Hetherington (Bristol), demonstrates that triacylglycerols (TAGs), contained in lipid droplets (LD), are critical for light-induced stomatal opening. Following illumination, the number of LDs are reduced through the β-oxidation pathway, a response that requires blue-light receptors. The authors postulate that a reduction in ATP-availability due to delayed fatty acid breakdown contributed to the stomatal phenotype. The lack of available ATP was confirmed following analysis of the activity of a plasma membrane H+-ATPase. Overall the authors suggest that the light-induced breakdown of TAG contributes to an evolutionarily conserved signaling pathway that controls stomatal opening therefore playing a key role in environmental adaptation.
The lead author of this study, Deidre McLachlan kindly provides a brief audio description of this paper.
During our discussion Deidre mentioned some related work that links blue-light signaling and starch degradation during stomatal opening that was included in a recent ARR.
Kirchhelle C, Chow CM, Foucart C, Neto H, Stierhof YD, Kalde M, Walton C, Fricker M, Smith RS, Jérusalem A, Irani N, Moore I (2016) The Specification of Geometric Edges by a Plant Rab GTPase Is an Essential Cell-Patterning Principle During Organogenesis in Arabidopsis. Developmental Cell 36(4):386-400 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2016.01.020 Open Access
Ian Moore (Oxford) is the corresponding author on this UK-German collaboration that investigates the role of a Rab GTPase in pattern formation during organogenesis. It is known that the endomembrane system controls the asymmetric distribution of cargoes to different ‘geometric edges’ of a plant cell, establishing biochemically distinct domains that are important for anisotropic growth. This study identifies a new type of membrane vesicle that accumulates specifically along geometric edges and that contains the RAB-A5c protein which, when inhibited, distorts the geometry of cells in subsequently formed lateral organs (in this case, lateral roots). Interestingly this effect is independent of changes to general endomembrane trafficking. The precise mechanism of RAB-A5c activity is unknown but loss of its activity reduces cell wall stiffness at domain-specific locations, therefore perturbing cell growth in those directions. Therefore this study provides interesting insight into fundamental mechanisms that control the growth of cells in a developing organ.
Thatcher LF, Cevik V, Grant M, Zhai B, Jones JD, Manners JM, Kazan K (2016) Characterization of a JAZ7 activation-tagged Arabidopsis mutant with increased susceptibility to the fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum J Exp Bot. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erw040 Open Access
Jonathan Jones (TSL) and Murray Grant (Exeter) are collaborators on this research that investigates the role of jasmonic acid signaling in plant resistance to the fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum. In this study they show that the JASMONATE ZIM-domain7 (JAZ7) gene is induced by Fusarium oxysporum and that the jaz7-1D mutant has increased suspectibility to infection. This genotype has constitutive JAZ7 expression and also demonstrates sensitivity to a bacterial pathogen. To cause alterations in gene expression, the JAZ7 protein interacts with a range of transcriptional activators and repressors. The authors postulate that in wildtype plants JAZ7 represses the JA-transcriptional network through its interaction with the co-repressor TOPLESS protein and that in the jaz7-1D plants this response network is hyper-activated leading to an inappropriately high response to pathogen attack.
Yun BW, Skelly MJ, Yin M, Yu M, Mun BG, Lee SU, Hussain A, Spoel SH, Loake GJ (2016) Nitric oxide and S-nitrosoglutathione function additively during plant immunity. New Phytol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nph.13903
Gary Loake and GARNet Advisory board member Steven Spoel (Edinburgh) are the leaders of this UK-Korean collaboration that studies the role of Nitric Oxide (NO) in the plant defence response. NO often undergoes S-nitrosylation to produce S-nitrosothiol (SNO), which is important for its bioactivity. This reaction involves the S-nitrosoglutathione reductase 1 (GSNOR1) enzyme, which serves to turnover the NO donor, S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO). In this study the authors investigate mutant plants that accumulate NO and some a reduction in the basal defence response due to a reduction in salicylic acid (SA) signaling. This response was not rescued by the overexpression of GSNOR1 even though this was able to reduce phenotypes resulting from SNO accumulation. Mutant plants that have increased NO accumulation but lower activity of GSNOR1, so therefore an increased ratio of NO:SNO, were more suspectible to growth of bacterial pathogens. The authors conclude that the relationship between NO and GSNO is critically for plant immunity and development.
Lindsay ER, Maathuis FJ (2016) Arabidopsis thaliana NIP7;1 is Involved in Tissue Arsenic Distribution and Tolerance in Response to Arsenate FEBS Lett. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/1873-3468.12103
Francois Maathuis (York) is the corresponding author of this study that investigates the role of the Arabidopsis aquaglyceroporin NIP7;1 in the uptake of different chemical forms of arsenic. Mutant nip7;1 plants improved the tolerance of arsenic by reducing uptake of the chemical. This is the first demonstration for the role of a NIP transporter in the response to arsenic and highlights the possibility of focussing on these proteins as a target for breeding or genetically-modifying tolerance to this toxic metal.
Wang H, He L, Song J, Cui W, Zhang Y, Jia C, Francis D, Rogers HJ, Sun L, Tai P, Hui X, Yang Y, Liu W (2016) Cadmium-induced genomic instability in Arabidopsis: Molecular toxicological biomarkers for early diagnosis of cadmium stress Chemosphere 150:258-265 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2016.02.042
Hilary Rodgers (Cardiff) is the sole UK representative on this Chinese study that has developed screening parameters to evaluate the growth of plants on cadmium. The study uses microsatellite instability (MSI) analysis, random-amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), and methylation-sensitive arbitrarily primed PCR (MSAP-PCR) to define a range of genomic alterations that occurred after growth of Arabidopsis plants across a range of concentrations of cadmium. They conclude that analysis of genomic methylation polymorphisms were the most sensitive biomarkers to diagnosis early cadmium stress in these plants and provide important insights for future biomonitoring strategies.
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