Sung Ran Min

Overexpression of a yeast cadmium factor 1 (YCF1) enhances heavy metal tolerance and accumulation in Brassica juncea

A yeast cadmium factor 1 (YCF1) is a member of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter family associated with multi-drug resistance, and it is localized at the vacuolar membrane in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To determine ability to increase heavy metal tolerance and accumulation, YCF1 was introduced into Brassica juncea plants by Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation. YCF1 gene presence in transgenic plants was demonstrated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Reverse transcriptase-PCR analysis confirmed YCF1 gene expression in the transgenic plants, but the degree of YCF1 expression varied among the lines. YCF1 overexpression in B. juncea conferred enhanced tolerance to cadmium (Cd[II]) and lead (Pb[II]) stress. Transgenic B. juncea seedlings showed 1.3- to 1.6-fold tolerance to Cd stress and 1.2- to 1.4-fold tolerance to Pb stress compared to wild type (WT) plants (per gram fresh weight). Most importantly, the shoot tissues of transgenic seedlings contained about 1.5- to 2-fold higher Cd(II) and Pb(II) levels than those of WT, demonstrating significantly increased accumulation of both Cd(II) and Pb(II) in transgenic plants.

Overexpression of AtATM3 in Brassica juncea confers enhanced heavy metal tolerance and accumulation

AtATM3, a member of the ATP-binding cassette transporter family, is localized at the mitochondrial membrane of Arabidopsis thaliana and is involved in the biogenesis of Fe–S clusters and iron homeostasis in plants. Through Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation, the AtATM3 gene driven by the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter (CaMV35S) was introduced into Brassica juncea (Indian mustard), a plant species suitable for phytoremediation, with the aim of improving heavy metal tolerance and accumulation in plants. The presence of the AtATM3 gene in transgenic plants was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Reverse transcriptase-PCR analysis confirmed AtATM3 expression in transgenic plants, but the level of AtATM3 expression varied between lines. AtATM3 overexpression in B. juncea conferred enhanced tolerance to cadmium [Cd(II)] and lead [Pb(II)] stresses. Importantly, the shoot tissues of transgenic seedlings contained about 1.5- to 2.5-fold higher Cd(II) and Pb(II) levels than wild type (WT) seedlings, demonstrating significantly-increased accumulation of both Cd(II) and Pb(II) in transgenic plants. The enhanced capacity of heavy metal tolerance and accumulation by AtATM3 transgenic plants was attributed to higher BjGSHII (B. juncea glutathione synthetase II) and BjPCS1 (phytochelatin synthase 1) expression levels induced by AtATM3 overexpression. In addition, AtATM3 overexpression regulated the expression of several metal transporters in the transgenic B. juncea plants under heavy metal stress conditions. Therefore, AtATM3 transgenic plants are more tolerant of and can accumulate more heavy metals to enhance phytoremediation of contaminated soils.

CHRK1, a chitinase-related receptor-like kinase, plays a role in plant development and cytokinin homeostasis in tobacco

CHRK1 encodes a receptor-like kinase that contains a chitinase-related sequence in the extracellular domain in Nicotiana tabacum. In this study, we showed that CHRK1 is mainly expressed in the shoot apex region including leaf primordia and young leaves, and germinating seedlings and vascular tissues, based on GUS activity of transgenic tobacco plants carrying the CHRK1promoter-GUS fusion gene. Transgenic tobacco plants in which CHRK1 expression was suppressed exhibited pleiotrophic developmental abnormality, including formation of proliferating shooty calli from emerging seedlings and severely altered seedling development. At the cellular level, ectopic cell proliferation, reduced cell specificity, and aberrant chloroplast development were observed. The transgenic lines contained 3-fold higher level of cytokinin than the wild-type plants. Consistently, the transgenic seedlings exhibited a typical cytokinin response in the absence of hormone, such as deetiolation under the dark. Based on these results, we propose that CHRK1 is involved in a developmental signaling pathway regulating cell proliferation/differentiation and the endogenous cytokinin levels in tobacco.

Overexpression of a trehalose-6-phosphate synthase/phosphatase fusion gene enhances tolerance and photosynthesis during drought and salt stress without growth aberrations in tomato

Trehalose is a non-reducing disaccharide of glucose that confers tolerance against abiotic stresses in many diverse organisms, including higher plants. It was previously reported that overexpression of the yeast trehalose-6-phosphate synthase gene in tomato results in improved tolerance against abiotic stresses. However, these transgenic tomato plants had stunted growth and pleiotropic changes in appearance. In this study, transgenic tomato plants were generated by the introduction of a gene encoding a bifunctional fusion of trehalose-6-phosphate synthase and trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase genes from Escherichia coli under the control of the CaMV35S promoter. Transgenic plants accumulated higher levels of trehalose in their leaves and exhibited enhanced drought and salt tolerance and photosynthetic rates under salt stress conditions than wild-type plants. All of the transgenic plants had normal growth patterns and appearances. Therefore, the system described in this study can be used for practical application of the gene in crop improvement.

High-level expression of a human β-site APP cleaving enzyme in transgenic tobacco chloroplasts and its immunogenicity in mice

Plastid transformation has to date been applied to the expression of heterologous genes involved in agronomic traits and to the production of useful recombinant proteins. Here, we report a feasibility study for producing the human β-site APP cleaving enzyme (BACE) via transformation of tobacco chloroplasts. Stable integration of human BACE into the plastome was confirmed by PCR. Genomic Southern blot analysis detected the presence of the tobacco aadA and human BACE genes between trnI and trnA in the plastome. Northern blot analysis revealed that the aadA and BACE genes were both properly transcribed into a dicistronic transcriptional unit. Human BACE protein expression in transplastomic tobacco was determined by western blot analysis. ELISA analysis revealed that, based on a dilution series of E. coli-derived BACE as a standard, transplastomic lines accumulated BACE to levels of 2.0% of total soluble proteins. When mice were gavaged with the transplastomic tobacco extracts, they showed an immune response against the BACE antigen. The successful production of plastid-based BACE protein has the potential for developing a plant-based vaccine against Alzheimer disease.

Paenibacillus pini sp. nov., a cellulolytic bacterium isolated from the rhizosphere of pine tree

Strain S22T, a novel cellulolytic bacterium was isolated from the rhizosphere of pine trees. This isolate was Gram-reaction positive, motile and rods, and formed terminal or subterminal ellipsoidal spores. S22T represented positive activity for catalase, oxidase, esterase (C4), esterase lipase (C8), β-galactosidase, leucine arylamidase, and hydrolysis of esculin. It contained meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic dia-mino acid in the cell-wall. The predominant isoprenoid quinone was menaquinone 7 (MK-7), and the major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15:0 (52.9%), iso-Ci16:0 (11.3%), and iso-C15:0 (10.0%). The DNA G+C content was 43.3 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that this isolate belonged to the family Paenibacillaceae. S22T exhibited less than 97.0% 16S rRNA gene similarity with all relative type strains in the genus Paenibacillus, and the most closely related strains were Paenibacillus anaericanus MH21T and Paenibacillus ginsengisoli Gsoil 1638T, with equal similarities of 95.8%. This polyphasic evidence suggested that strain S22T should be considered a novel species in the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name, Paenibacillus pini sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain is S22T (=KCTC 13694T =KACC 14198T =JCM 16418T)

Production of human lactoferrin in transgenic cell suspension cultures of sweet potato

Shoot apical meristem-derived calli were transformed with a hLF cDNA in an attempt to produce human lactoferrin (hLF) in transgenic cell suspension cultures of sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.]. Calli were bombarded with tungsten particles coated with the binary vector pLSM1 containing a hLF cDNA under the control of the 35S promoter and the neomycin phosphotransferase gene as a selection marker. Calli were then transferred to Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 4.52 µM 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 100 mg dm−3 kanamycin. Kanamycin-resistant calli were selected at four-week intervals and subcultured. Cell suspension cultures were established in liquid MS medium with 4.52 µM 2,4-D. Southern and Northern blot analyses confirmed that hLF cDNA was incorporated into the plant genome and was properly expressed in the cells. ELISA analysis showed that transgenic cells produced hLF up to 3.2 µg mg−1 (total protein).

RNA-seq analysis and de novo transcriptome assembly of Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus Linne).

Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) has long been cultivated as a vegetable and as a source of fructans (inulin) for pharmaceutical applications in diabetes and obesity prevention. However, transcriptomic and genomic data for Jerusalem artichoke remain scarce. In this study, Illumina RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) was performed on samples from Jerusalem artichoke leaves, roots, stems and two different tuber tissues (early and late tuber development). Data were used for de novo assembly and characterization of the transcriptome. In total 206,215,632 paired-end reads were generated. These were assembled into 66,322 loci with 272,548 transcripts. Loci were annotated by querying against the NCBI non-redundant, Phytozome and UniProt databases, and 40,215 loci were homologous to existing database sequences. Gene Ontology terms were assigned to 19,848 loci, 15,434 loci were matched to 25 Clusters of Eukaryotic Orthologous Groups classifications, and 11,844 loci were classified into 142 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways. The assembled loci also contained 10,778 potential simple sequence repeats. The newly assembled transcriptome was used to identify loci with tissue-specific differential expression patterns. In total, 670 loci exhibited tissue-specific expression, and a subset of these were confirmed using RT-PCR and qRT-PCR. Gene expression related to inulin biosynthesis in tuber tissue was also investigated. Exsiting genetic and genomic data for H. tuberosus are scarce. The sequence resources developed in this study will enable the analysis of thousands of transcripts and will thus accelerate marker-assisted breeding studies and studies of inulin biosynthesis in Jerusalem artichoke.

NPR1 is Instrumental in Priming for the Enhanced flg22-induced MPK3 and MPK6 Activation

Pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) activate mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), essential components of plant defense signaling. Salicylic acid (SA) is also central to plant resistance responses, but its specific role in regulation of MAPK activation is not completely defined. We have investigated the role of SA in PAMP-triggered MAPKs pathways in Arabidopsis SA-related mutants, specifically in the flg22-triggered activation of MPK3 and MPK6. cim6, sid2, and npr1 mutants exhibited wild-type-like flg22-triggered MAPKs activation, suggesting that impairment of SA signaling has no effect on the flg22-triggered MAPKs activation. Pretreatment with low concentrations of SA enhanced flg22-induced MPK3 and MPK6 activation in all seedlings except npr1, indicating that NPR1 is involved in SA-mediated priming that enhanced flg22-induced MAPKs activation.

Factors for high frequency plant regeneration in tissue cultures of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.)

An efficient system for high frequency plant regeneration was established through investigating various factors such as plant growth regulator combinations, explant types and ages, and addition of influenced on shoot regeneration in Brassica juncea L. cv. BARI sarisha-10. Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.1 mg/L NAA (1-naphthaleneacetic acid) and 1 mg/L BA (6-benzyladenine) showed the maximum shoot regeneration frequency (56.67%) among the different combinations of NAA and BA. Explant type, explant age, and addition of also significantly affected shoot regeneration. Of the four type of explants (cotyledon, hypocotyl, root, and leaf explants)- cotyledon explants produced the highest shoot regeneration frequency and hypocotyls explants produced the highest number of shoots per explant, whereas root explants did not produce any shoot. The cotyledonary explants from Four-day-old seedlings showed the maximum shoot regeneration frequency and number of shoots per explant. Shoot regeneration frequency increased significantly by adding to the medium. Two mg/L appeared to be the best for shoot regeneration with the highest shoot regeneration frequency (86.67%) and number of shoots per explant (7.5 shoots). Considerable variation in shoot regeneration from cotyledonay explants was observed within the B. juncea L. genotypes. The shoot regeneration frequency ranged from 47.78% for cv. Shambol to 91.11% for cv. Rai-5. In terms of the number of shoots produced per explant, B. juncea L. cv. Daulot showed the maximum efficiency. MS medium supplemented with 0.1 mg/L NAA showed the highest frequency of rooting. The regenerated plantlets were transferred to pot soil and grown to maturity in the greenhouse. All plants were fertile and morphologically identical with the source plants.