Jasmonates are essential phytohormones for plant development and survival. However, the molecular details of their signalling pathway remain largely unknown. The identification more than a decade ago of COI1 as an F-box protein suggested the existence of a repressor of jasmonate responses that is targeted by the SCF(COI1) complex for proteasome degradation in response to jasmonate. Here we report the identification of JASMONATE-INSENSITIVE 3 (JAI3) and a family of related proteins named JAZ (jasmonate ZIM-domain), in Arabidopsis thaliana. Our results demonstrate that JAI3 and other JAZs are direct targets of the SCF(COI1) E3 ubiquitin ligase and jasmonate treatment induces their proteasome degradation. Moreover, JAI3 negatively regulates the key transcriptional activator of jasmonate responses, MYC2. The JAZ family therefore represents the molecular link between the two previously known steps in the jasmonate pathway. Furthermore, we demonstrate the existence of a regulatory feed-back loop involving MYC2 and JAZ proteins, which provides a mechanistic explanation for the pulsed response to jasmonate and the subsequent desensitization of the cell.

Mutants able to germinate and perform early growth in medium containing a high NaCl concentration were identified during the course of two independent screenings and named salt resistant ( sre ) and salobreño ( sañ ). The sre and sañ mutants also were able to germinate in high-osmoticum medium, indicating that they are osmotolerant in a germination assay. Complementation analyses revealed that sre1-1 , sre1-2 , sañ3-1 , and sañ3-2 were alleles of the abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis ABA2 gene. A map-based cloning strategy allowed the identification of the ABA2 gene and molecular characterization of four new aba2 alleles. The ABA2 gene product belongs to the family of short-chain dehydrogenases/reductases, which are known to be NAD-or NADP-dependent oxidoreductases. Recombinant ABA2 protein produced in Escherichia coli exhibits a K m value for xanthoxin of 19 M and catalyzes in a NAD-dependent manner the conversion of xanthoxin to abscisic aldehyde, as determined by HPLC-mass spectrometry. The ABA2 mRNA is expressed constitutively in all plant organs examined and is not upregulated in response to osmotic stress. The results of this work are discussed in the context of previous genetic and biochemical evidence regarding ABA biosynthesis, confirming the xanthoxin → abscisic aldehyde → ABA transition as the last steps of the major ABA biosynthetic pathway.

The key enzyme for transcription of protein-encoding genes in eukaryotes is RNA polymerase II (RNAPII). The recruitment of this enzyme during transcription initiation and its passage along the template during transcription elongation is regulated through the association and dissociation of several complexes. Elongator is a histone acetyl transferase complex, consisting of six subunits (ELP1-ELP6), that copurifies with the elongating RNAPII in yeast and humans. We demonstrate that point mutations in three Arabidopsis thaliana genes, encoding homologs of the yeast Elongator subunits ELP1, ELP3 (histone acetyl transferase), and ELP4 are responsible for the phenotypes of the elongata2 (elo2), elo3, and elo1 mutants, respectively. The elo mutants are characterized by narrow leaves and reduced root growth that results from a decreased cell division rate. Morphological and molecular phenotypes show that the ELONGATA (ELO) genes function in the same biological process and the epistatic interactions between the ELO genes can be explained by the model of complex formation in yeast. Furthermore, the plant Elongator complex is genetically positioned in the process of RNAPII-mediated transcription downstream of Mediator. Our data indicate that the Elongator complex is evolutionarily conserved in structure and function but reveal that the mechanism by which it stimulates cell proliferation is different in yeast and plants.Arabidopsis ͉ histone acetyl transferase complex ͉ leaf development ͉ RNA polymerase II

SUMMARYCo-ordination of cell proliferation and cell expansion is a key regulatory process in leaf-size determination, but its molecular details are unknown. In Arabidopsis thaliana, mutations in a positive regulator of cell proliferation often trigger excessive cell enlargement post-mitotically in leaves. This phenomenon, called compensation syndrome, is seen in the mutant angustifolia3 (an3), which is defective in a transcription co-activator. Such compensation, however, does not occur in response to a decrease in cell number in oligocellula (oli). oli2, oli5 and oli7 did not exhibit compensation and the reduction in cell number in these mutants was moderate. However, when an oli mutation was combined with a different oli mutation to create a double mutant, cell number was further reduced and compensation was induced. Similarly, weak suppression of AN3 expression reduced cell number moderately but did not induce compensation compared with an an3 null mutant. Furthermore, double mutants of either oli2, oli5 or oli7 and an3 showed markedly enhanced compensation. These results suggest that compensation is triggered when cell proliferation regulated by OLI2/ OLI5/OLI7 and AN3 is compromised in a threshold-dependent manner. OLI2 encodes a Nop2 homolog in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that is involved in ribosome biogenesis, whereas OLI5 and OLI7 encode ribosome proteins RPL5A and RPL5B, respectively. This suggests that a factor involved in the induction of compensation may be under the dual control of AN3 and a ribosome-related process.