Panagiotis Madesis

Transfer of plastid DNA to the nucleus is elevated during male gametogenesis in tobacco

In eukaryotes, many genes were transferred to the nucleus from prokaryotic ancestors of the cytoplasmic organelles during endosymbiotic evolution. In plants, the transfer of genetic material from the plastid (chloroplast) and mitochondrion to the nucleus is a continuing process. The cellular location of a kanamycin resistance gene tailored for nuclear expression (35SneoSTLS2) was monitored in the progeny of reciprocal crosses of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) in which, at the start of the experiments, the reporter gene was confined either to the male or the female parental plastid genome. Among 146,000 progeny from crosses where the transplastomic parent was male, 13 transposition events were identified, whereas only one atypical transposition was identified in a screen of 273,000 transplastomic ovules. In a second experiment, a transplastomic β-glucuronidase reporter gene, tailored to be expressed only in the nucleus, showed frequent stochastic expression that was confined to the cytoplasm in the somatic cells of several plant tissues. This gene was stably transferred in two out of 98,000 seedlings derived from a male transplastomic line crossed with a female wild type. These data demonstrate relocation of plastid DNA to the nucleus in both somatic and gametophytic tissue and reveal a large elevation of the frequency of transposition in the male germline. The results suggest a new explanation for the occurrence of uniparental inheritance in eukaryotes.

Binding and glutathione conjugation of porphyrinogens by plant glutathione transferases

Overexpression in Escherichia coli of a tau (U) class glutathione transferase (GST) from maize (Zea mays L.), termed ZmGSTU1, caused a reduction in heme levels and an accumulation of porphyrin precursors. This disruption was highly specific, with the expression of the closely related ZmGSTU2 or other maize GSTs having little effect. Expression in E. coli of a series of chimeric ZmGSTU1/ZmGSTU2 proteins identified domains responsible for disrupting porphyrin metabolism. In addition to known heme precursors, expression of ZmGSTU1 led to the accumulation of a novel glutathione conjugate of harderoporphyrin(ogen) (2,7,12,18-tetramethyl-3-vinylporphyrin-8,13,17-tripropionic acid). Using the related protoporphyrinogen as a substrate, conjugation could be shown to occur on one vinyl group and was actively catalyzed by the ZmGSTU. In plant transgenesis studies, the ZmGSTUs did not perturb porphyrin metabolism when expressed in the cytosol of Arabidopsis or tobacco. However, expression of a ZmGSTU1-ZmGSTU2 chimera in the chloroplasts of tobacco resulted in the accumulation of the harderoporphyrin(ogen)-glutathione conjugate observed in the expression studies in bacteria. Our results show that the well known ability of GSTs to act as ligand binding (ligandin) proteins of porphyrins in vitro results in highly specific interactions with porphyrinogen intermediates, which can be demonstrated in both plants and bacteria in vivo.

A synthetic gene increases TGFβ3 accumulation by 75‐fold in tobacco chloroplasts enabling rapid purification and folding into a biologically active molecule

Human transforming growth factor-β3 (TGFβ3) is a new therapeutic protein used to reduce scarring during wound healing. The active molecule is a nonglycosylated, homodimer comprised of 13-kDa polypeptide chains linked by disulphide bonds. Expression of recombinant human TGFβ3 in chloroplasts and its subsequent purification would provide a sustainable source of TGFβ3 free of animal pathogens. A synthetic sequence (33% GC) containing frequent chloroplast codons raised accumulation of the 13-kDa TGFβ3 polypeptide by 75-fold compared to the native coding region (56% GC) when expressed in tobacco chloroplasts. The 13-kDa TGFβ3 monomer band was more intense than the RuBisCO 15-kDa small subunit on Coomassie blue-stained SDS-PAGE gels. TGFβ3 accumulated in insoluble aggregates and was stable in leaves of different ages but was not detected in seeds. TGFβ3 represented 12% of leaf protein and appeared as monomer, dimer and trimer bands on Western blots of SDS-PAGE gels. High yield and insolubility facilitated initial purification and refolding of the 13-kDa polypeptide into the TGFβ3 homodimer recognized by a conformation-dependent monoclonal antibody. The TGFβ3 homodimer and trace amounts of monomer were the only bands visible on silver-stained gels following purification by hydrophobic interaction chromatography and cation exchange chromatography. N-terminal sequencing and electronspray ionization mass spectrometry showed the removal of the initiator methionine and physical equivalence of the chloroplast-produced homodimer to standard TGFβ3. Functional equivalence was demonstrated by near-identical dose-response curves showing the inhibition of mink lung epithelial cell proliferation. We conclude that chloroplasts are an attractive production platform for synthesizing recombinant human TGFβ3.

A hepatitis C virus core polypeptide expressed in chloroplasts detects anti-core antibodies in infected human sera

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major disease agent affecting approximately 3% of the worlds population. Expression in plant chloroplasts enables low-cost production of the conserved HCV core protein used in diagnostic tests to combat virus spread in developing countries with high infection rates. The bactericidal activity of the 21 kDa precore protein hinders cloning the core gene in plastid expression cassettes, which are active in bacteria due to the similarities between bacterial and plastid promoters and ribosome binding sites. This was overcome by using a topology-dependent expression cassette containing tandem rrn and psbA plastid promoters, whose activity was shown to be dependent on temperature. The viral core gene and a codon-optimised gene encoding a C-terminal truncated 16 kDa core polypeptide were expressed in tobacco chloroplasts. The codon-optimised gene increased monocistronic core mRNA levels by at least 2-fold and core polypeptides by over 5-fold, relative to the native viral gene. Expression of the 16 kDa core polypeptide was stable in leaves of different ages. Anti-core antibodies in HCV-infected human sera were detected by the 16 kDa core polypeptide in total leaf protein fractionated on Western blots providing a first step towards developing a chloroplast-based HCV diagnostic method.

Introducing an RNA editing requirement into a plastid-localised transgene reduces but does not eliminate functional gene transfer to the nucleus

In higher plants, DNA transfer from the plastid (chloroplast) genome to the nucleus is a frequent, ongoing process. However, there has been uncertainty over whether this transfer occurs by a direct DNA mechanism or whether RNA intermediates are involved. Previous experiments utilising transplastomic Nicotiana tabacum (tp7 and tp17) enabled the detection of plastid-to-nucleus transfer in real time. To determine whether RNA intermediates are involved in this transfer, transplastomic lines (tpneoACG) were generated containing, in their plastid genomes, a nuclear promoter-driven kanamycin resistance gene (neo) with a start codon that required plastid RNA editing but otherwise identical to tp7 and tp17. Therefore it was expected that kanamycin resistance would only be acquired following RNA-mediated transfer of neo to the nucleus. Screening of tpneoACG progeny revealed several kanamycin-resistant plants, each of which contained the neo gene located in the nucleus. Surprisingly, neo was unedited in all these plants, indicating that neoACG was active in the absence of an edited start codon and suggesting that RNA intermediates were not involved in the transfers. However, analysis of tpneoACG revealed that only a low proportion of transcripts potentially able to mediate neo transfer were edited, thus precluding unequivocal conclusions regarding the role of RNA in plastid-to-nucleus transfer. The low proportion of edited transcripts was found to be due to predominant antisense neo transcripts, rather than to low editing efficiency of the sense transcripts. This study highlights a number of important considerations in the design of experiments utilising plastid RNA editing. The results also suggest that RNA editing sites reduce but do not eliminate functional plastid-to-nucleus gene transfer. This is relevant both in an evolutionary context and in placing RNA editing-dependent genes in the plastid genome as a means of transgene containment.

Simple and efficient removal of marker genes from plastids by homologous recombination.

Removal of marker genes improves the design of transgenic plants. Homologous recombination between direct repeats provides a simple method for excising marker genes after transgenic cells and shoots have been isolated. Efficient implementation of the method requires high rates of homologous recombination relative to illegitimate recombination pathways. The procedure works well in plastids where homologous recombination predominates. Marker genes are flanked by engineered direct repeats. The number and length of direct repeats flanking a marker gene influence excision rate. Excision is automatic and loss of the marker gene is controlled by selection alone. After transgenic cells have been isolated selection is removed allowing loss of the marker gene. Excision is a unidirectional process resulting in the rapid accumulation of high levels of marker-free plastid genomes. Cytoplasmic sorting of marker-free plastids from marker-containing plastids leads to the isolation of marker free plants. Marker-free plants can be isolated following vegetative propagation or among the progeny of sexual crosses.

Expression of an HCV core antigen coding gene in tobacco (N. tabacum L.).

Abstract Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the major agent causing chronic liver disease. The core gene is the most conserved sequence in the HCV genome and proved immunoreactive when expressed in bacteria and antigenic in humans. In order to test the ability of plants to express the core gene for the production of core antigen, transgenic tobacco plants carrying the core gene were generated. The core protein was stably synthesized in T0 and T1 generations and was found to be immunoreactive, not only with anti-core polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies, but also was able to recognize the HCV virus in infected human serum. The prospects of producing a plant based vaccine and/or a food vaccine for this important virus are discussed.

Plant Glutathione Transferases in Abiotic Stress Response and Herbicide Resistance

Plant responses and adaptations to stress conditions are of great interest for both basic and applied science, and represent the key factors for the improvement of economically important crops worldwide. Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs, EC. 2.5.1.18) are multifunctional enzymes encoded by a highly divergent ancient gene family. GSTs catalyze the conjugation of tripeptide glutathione (GSH) with endogenous electrophilic compounds (secondary metabolites, hydroperoxides) and xenobiotics, such as herbicides, leading to their cellular detoxification. Therefore, GSTs are implicated in metabolism-based herbicide resistance in crop weeds. This chapter discusses the involvement of plant GSTs in abiotic stress response with focus on metabolism-based herbicide resistance and attempts to give an overview of their catalytic roles and in planta function.

Excision of plastid marker genes using directly repeated DNA sequences.

Excision of marker genes using DNA direct repeats makes use of the predominant homologous recombination pathways present in the plastids of algae and plants. The method is simple, efficient, and widely applicable to plants and microalgae. Marker excision frequency is dependent on the length and number of directly repeated sequences. When two repeats are used a repeat size of greater than 600 bp promotes efficient excision of the marker gene. A wide variety of sequences can be used to make the direct repeats. Only a single round of transformation is required, and there is no requirement to introduce site-specific recombinases by retransformation or sexual crosses. Selection is used to maintain the marker and ensure homoplasmy of transgenic plastid genomes. Release of selection allows the accumulation of marker-free plastid genomes generated by marker excision, which is spontaneous, random, and a unidirectional process. Positive selection is provided by linking marker excision to restoration of the coding region of an herbicide resistance gene from two overlapping but incomplete coding regions. Cytoplasmic sorting allows the segregation of cells with marker-free transgenic plastids. The marker-free shoots resulting from direct repeat-mediated excision of marker genes have been isolated by vegetative propagation of shoots in the T0 generation. Alternatively, accumulation of marker-free plastid genomes during growth, development and flowering of T0 plants allows the collection of seeds that give rise to a high proportion of marker-free T1 seedlings. The simplicity and convenience of direct repeat excision facilitates its widespread use to isolate marker-free crops.

Structure, Evolution and Functional Roles of Plant Glutathione Transferases

Plant cytosolic glutathione transferases (EC 2.5.1.18, GSTs) are essential enzymes involved in multiple and diverse functions which are crucial to xenobiotic detoxification, hormone signalling, redox homeostasis, plant metabolism, growth regulation and adaptation to abiotic and biotic stresses. GSTs are capable of catalysing the conjugation of reduced glutathione (γ-L-Glu-L-Cys-Gly; GSH), via the sulphydryl group, to electrophilic centres on a vast number of molecules, both endogenous and xenobiotic, including herbicides, leading to their detoxification. Recent progress of plant proteomics, genomics and transcriptomics projects has allowed the identification, classification and evolutionary analysis of a large number of GST isoenzymes and has provided new knowledge and insights into their in planta function and catalytic role. This chapter focuses on plant GSTs and attempts to give an overview of their evolution, catalytic function and structural biology.