Sergei Kushnir

Suppression of beta-1,3-glucanase transgene expression in homozygous plants.

A chimeric construct containing the Nicotiana plumbaginifolia beta‐1,3‐glucanase gn1 gene was introduced into Nicotiana tabacum SR1 to produce high levels of the enzyme constitutively. We determined that the GN1 protein represents a basic beta‐1,3‐glucanase isoform which accumulates into the vacuoles of the transgenic plants. Analysis of the progeny of the transgenic plant with the highest levels of gn1 expression revealed an unexpected phenomenon of gene suppression. Plants hemizygous for the T‐DNA locus contained high levels of gn1 mRNA and exhibited a 14‐fold higher beta‐1,3‐glucanase activity than untransformed plants. However, the expression of gn1 was completely suppressed in the homozygous plants: no corresponding mRNA or protein could be detected. This suppression mechanism occurs at a post‐transcriptional level and is under developmental control. In addition, by generating haploid plants we found that this silencing phenomenon is not dependent on allelic interaction between T‐DNA copies present at the same locus of homologous chromosomes, but rather is correlated with the transgene dose in the plant genome. We postulate that high doses of GN1 protein relative to the level(s) of other still unknown plant products could trigger the cellular processes directed to suppress gn1 expression.

A Mutation of the Mitochondrial ABC Transporter Sta1 Leads to Dwarfism and Chlorosis in the Arabidopsis Mutant starik

A mutation in the Arabidopsis gene STARIK leads to dwarfism and chlorosis of plants with an altered morphology of leaf and cell nuclei. We show that the STARIK gene encodes the mitochondrial ABC transporter Sta1 that belongs to a subfamily of Arabidopsis half-ABC transporters. The severity of the starik phenotype is suppressed by the ectopic expression of the STA2 homolog; thus, Sta1 function is partially redundant. Sta1 supports the maturation of cytosolic Fe/S protein in Δatm1 yeast, substituting for the ABC transporter Atm1p. Similar to Atm1p-deficient yeast, mitochondria of the starik mutant accumulated more nonheme, nonprotein iron than did wild-type organelles. We further show that plant mitochondria contain a putative l-cysteine desulfurase. Taken together, our results suggest that plant mitochondria possess an evolutionarily conserved Fe/S cluster biosynthesis pathway, which is linked to the intracellular iron homeostasis by the function of Atm1p-like ABC transporters.

Arabidopsis WEE1 Kinase Controls Cell Cycle Arrest in Response to Activation of the DNA Integrity Checkpoint

Upon the incidence of DNA stress, the ataxia telangiectasia–mutated (ATM) and Rad3-related (ATR) signaling kinases activate a transient cell cycle arrest that allows cells to repair DNA before proceeding into mitosis. Although the ATM-ATR pathway is highly conserved over species, the mechanisms by which plant cells stop their cell cycle in response to the loss of genome integrity are unclear. We demonstrate that the cell cycle regulatory WEE1 kinase gene of Arabidopsis thaliana is transcriptionally activated upon the cessation of DNA replication or DNA damage in an ATR- or ATM-dependent manner, respectively. In accordance with a role for WEE1 in DNA stress signaling, WEE1-deficient plants showed no obvious cell division or endoreduplication phenotype when grown under nonstress conditions but were hypersensitive to agents that impair DNA replication. Induced WEE1 expression inhibited plant growth by arresting dividing cells in the G2-phase of the cell cycle. We conclude that the plant WEE1 gene is not rate-limiting for cycle progression under normal growth conditions but is a critical target of the ATR-ATM signaling cascades that inhibit the cell cycle upon activation of the DNA integrity checkpoints, coupling mitosis to DNA repair in cells that suffer DNA damage.

The pleiotropic role of the 26S proteasome subunit RPN10 in Arabidopsis growth and development supports a substrate-specific function in abscisic acid signaling

The 26S proteasome is an essential protease complex responsible for removing most short-lived intracellular proteins, especially those modified with polyubiquitin chains. We show here that an Arabidopsis mutant expressing an altered RPN10 subunit exhibited a pleiotropic phenotype consistent with specific changes in 26S proteasome function. rpn10-1 plants displayed reduced seed germination, growth rate, stamen number, genetic transmission through the male gamete, and hormone-induced cell division, which can be explained partially by a constitutive downregulation of the key cell cycle gene CDKA;1. rpn10-1 also was more sensitive to abscisic acid (ABA), salt, and sucrose stress and to DNA-damaging agents and had decreased sensitivity to cytokinin and auxin. Most of the phenotypes can be explained by a hypersensitivity to ABA, which is reflected at the molecular level by the selective stabilization of the short-lived ABA-signaling protein ABI5. Collectively, these results indicate that RPN10 affects a number of regulatory processes in Arabidopsis likely by directing specific proteins to the 26S proteasome for degradation. A particularly important role may be in regulating the responses to signals promulgated by ABA.

AtATM3 Is Involved in Heavy Metal Resistance in Arabidopsis

AtATM3, an ATP-binding cassette transporter of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), is a mitochondrial protein involved in the biogenesis of iron-sulfur clusters and iron homeostasis in plants. Our gene expression analysis showed that AtATM3 is up-regulated in roots of plants treated with cadmium [Cd(II)] or lead (II); hence, we investigated whether this gene is involved in heavy metal tolerance. We found that AtATM3-overexpressing plants were enhanced in resistance to Cd, whereas atatm3 mutant plants were more sensitive to Cd than their wild-type controls. Moreover, atatm3 mutant plants expressing 35S promoter-driven AtATM3 were more resistant to Cd than wild-type plants. Since previous reports often showed that the cytosolic glutathione level is positively correlated with heavy metal resistance, we measured nonprotein thiols (NPSH) in these mutant plants. Surprisingly, we found that atatm3 contained more NPSH than the wild type under normal conditions. AtATM3-overexpressing plants did not differ under normal conditions, but contained less NPSH than wild-type plants when exposed to Cd(II). These results suggest a role for AtATM3 in regulating cellular NPSH level, a hypothesis that was further supported by our gene expression study. Genetic or pharmacological inhibition of glutathione biosynthesis led to the elevated expression of AtATM3, whereas expression of the glutathione synthase gene GSH1 was increased under Cd(II) stress and in the atatm3 mutant. Because the closest homolog of AtATM3 in fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe), HMT1, is a vacuolar membrane-localized phytochelatin-Cd transporter, it is tempting to speculate that glutathione-Cd(II) complexes formed in the mitochondria are exported by AtATM3. In conclusion, our data show that AtATM3 contributes to Cd resistance and suggest that it may mediate transport of glutamine synthetase-conjugated Cd(II) across the mitochondrial membrane.

Cytokinin Growth Responses in Arabidopsis Involve the 26S Proteasome Subunit RPN12

The 26S proteasome is an ATP-dependent eukaryotic protease responsible for degrading many important cell regulators, especially those conjugated with multiple ubiquitins. Bound on both ends of the 20S core protease is a multisubunit regulatory particle that plays a crucial role in substrate selection by an as yet unknown mechanism(s). Here, we show that the RPN12 subunit of the Arabidopsis regulatory particle is involved in cytokinin responses. A T-DNA insertion mutant that affects RPN12a has a decreased rate of leaf formation, reduced root elongation, delayed skotomorphogenesis, and altered growth responses to exogenous cytokinins, suggesting that the mutant has decreased sensitivity to the hormone. The cytokinin-inducible genes CYCD3 and NIA1 are upregulated constitutively in rpn12a-1, indicating that feedback-inhibitory mechanisms also may be altered. rpn12a-1 seedlings also showed changes in auxin-induced growth responses, further illustrating the close interaction between auxin and cytokinin regulation. In yeast, RPN12 is necessary for the G1/S and G2/M transitions of the cell cycle, phases that have been shown to be under cytokinin control in plants. We propose that RPN12a is part of the Arabidopsis 26S proteasome that controls the stability of one or more of the factors involved in cytokinin regulation.

Arabidopsis thaliana NADPH Oxidoreductase Homologs Confer Tolerance of Yeasts toward the Thiol-oxidizing Drug Diamide

To isolate new plant genes involved in the defense against oxidative stress, an Arabidopsis cDNA library in a yeast expression vector was transformed into a yeast strain deficient in the YAP1 gene, which encodes a b-Zip transcription factor and regulates general stress response in yeasts. Cells from ≈105 primary transformants were subjected to a tolerance screen toward the thiol-oxidizing drug diamide, which depletes the reduced glutathione in the cell. Four types of Arabidopsis cDNAs were isolated. Three of these cDNAs (P1, P2, and P4) belong to a plant ζ-crystallin family and P3 is an Arabidopsis homolog of isoflavonoid reductases. As such, all four isolated cDNAs are homologous to NADPH oxidoreductases. P1, P2, and P3 steady-state mRNAs accumulated rapidly in Arabidopsis plants under various oxidative stress conditions, such as treatment with paraquat, t-butylhydroperoxide, diamide, and menadione. The data suggested that proteins encoded by the isolated cDNAs play a distinct role in plant antioxidant defense and are possibly involved in NAD(P)/NAD(P)H homeostasis.

Protection against Photooxidative Injury of Tobacco Leaves by 2-Alkenal Reductase. Detoxication of Lipid Peroxide-Derived Reactive Carbonyls

Degradation of lipid peroxides leads to the formation of cytotoxic 2-alkenals and oxenes (collectively designated reactive carbonyls). The novel NADPH-dependent oxidoreductase 2-alkenal reductase (AER; EC 1.3.1.74) from Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), which is encoded by the gene At5g16970, catalyzes the reduction of the α,β-unsaturated bond of reactive carbonyls, and hence is presumed to function in antioxidative defense in plants. Here we show that Arabidopsis AER (At-AER) has a broad substrate spectrum to biologically relevant reactive carbonyls. Besides 2-alkenals, the enzyme recognized as substrates the lipid peroxide-derived oxenes 9-oxo-octadeca-(10E),(12Z)-dienoic acid and 13-oxo-octadeca-(9E),(11Z)-dienoic acid, as well as the potent genotoxin 4-oxo-(2E)-nonenal, altogether suggesting AER has a key role in the detoxification of reactive carbonyls. To validate this conclusion by in vivo studies, transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants that had 100- to 250-fold higher AER activity levels than control plants were generated. The engineered plants exhibited significantly less damage from either (1) the exogenously administered 4-hydroxy-(2E)-nonenal, (2) treatment with methyl viologen plus light, or (3) intense light. We further show that the At-AER protein fused with the Aequorea victoria green fluorescent protein localizes in cytosol and the nucleus in Bright-Yellow 2 cells. These results indicate that reactive carbonyls mediate photooxidative injury in leaf cells, and At-AER in the cytosol protects the cells by reducing the α,β-unsaturated bond of the photoproduced reactive carbonyls.

Pigment Deficiency in Nightshade/Tobacco Cybrids Is Caused by the Failure to Edit the Plastid ATPase α-Subunit mRNA

The subgenomes of the plant cell, the nuclear genome, the plastome, and the chondriome are known to interact through various types of coevolving macromolecules. The combination of the organellar genome from one species with the nuclear genome of another species often leads to plants with deleterious phenotypes, demonstrating that plant subgenomes coevolve. The molecular mechanisms behind this nuclear–organellar incompatibility have been elusive, even though the phenomenon is widespread and has been known for >70 years. Here, we show by direct and reverse genetic approaches that the albino phenotype of a flowering plant with the nuclear genome of Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade) and the plastome of Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco) develops as a result of a defect in RNA editing of a tobacco-specific editing site in the plastid ATPase α-subunit transcript. A plastome-wide analysis of RNA editing in these cytoplasmic hybrids and in plants with a tobacco nucleus and nightshade chloroplasts revealed additional defects in the editing of species-specific editing sites, suggesting that differences in RNA editing patterns in general contribute to the pigment deficiencies observed in interspecific nuclear–plastidial incompatibilities.

CEO1, a new protein from Arabidopsis thaliana, protects yeast against oxidative damage

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain WYT, deficient in the YAP1 transcription factor, was used in a molecular screen to identify genes from Arabidopsis thaliana that could overcome the oxidative stress‐sensitive phenotype of these yeast cells. A cDNA named CEO1 increased the tolerance to oxidative damage caused by tert‐butylhydroperoxide of both the Yap1− mutant and the wild‐type yeast. Additionally, in Yap1− yeast, CEO1 also induced cross‐tolerance to oxidative damage caused by hydrogen peroxide and diamide. CEO1 was assigned as being part of a small gene family that, until now, is exclusively restricted to plants. In Arabidopsis, CEO1 was produced in all organs, especially in roots and stems. By using the yeast two‐hybrid system, proteins that specifically interact with CEO1 in yeast were identified, and putative DNA‐binding proteins were consistently recovered.