Jasmonate signaling plays an important role in both plant defense and development. Here, we have identified a subunit of the Mediator complex as a regulator of the jasmonate signaling pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana. The Mediator complex is a conserved multiprotein complex that acts as a universal adaptor between transcription factors and the RNA polymerase II transcriptional machinery. We report that the PHYTOCHROME AND FLOWERING TIME1 (PFT1) gene, which encodes the MEDIATOR25 subunit of Mediator, is required for jasmonate-dependent defense gene expression and resistance to leaf-infecting necrotrophic fungal pathogens. Conversely, PFT1 appears to confer susceptibility to Fusarium oxysporum, a root-infecting hemibiotrophic fungal pathogen known to hijack jasmonate responses for disease development. Consistent with this, jasmonate gene expression was suppressed in the pft1 mutant during infection with F. oxysporum. In addition, a wheat (Triticum aestivum) homolog of PFT1 complemented the defense and the developmental phenotypes of the pft1 mutant, suggesting that the jasmonate signaling functions of PFT1 may be conserved in higher plants. Overall, our results identify an important control point in the regulation of the jasmonate signaling pathway within the transcriptional machinery.

P-type ATPases function to provide homeostasis in higher eukaryotes, but they are essentially ubiquitous, being found in all domains of life. Thever and Saier [J Memb Biol 2009;229:115–130] recently reported analyses of eukaryotic P-type ATPases, dividing them into nine functionally characterized and 13 functionally uncharacterized (FUPA) families. In this report, we analyze P-type ATPases in all major prokaryotic phyla for which complete genome sequence data are available, and we compare the results with those for eukaryotic P-type ATPases. Topological type I (heavy metal) P-type ATPases predominate in prokaryotes (approx. tenfold) while type II ATPases (specific for Na⁺,K⁺, H⁺ Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and phospholipids) predominate in eukaryotes (approx. twofold). Many P-type ATPase families are found exclusively in prokaryotes (e.g. Kdp-type K⁺ uptake ATPases (type III) and all ten prokaryotic FUPA familes), while others are restricted to eukaryotes (e.g. phospholipid flippases and all 13 eukaryotic FUPA families). Horizontal gene transfer has occurred frequently among bacteria and archaea, which have similar distributions of these enzymes, but rarely between most eukaryotic kingdoms, and even more rarely between eukaryotes and prokaryotes. In some bacterial phyla (e.g. Bacteroidetes, Flavobacteria and Fusobacteria), ATPase gene gain and loss as well as horizontal transfer occurred seldom in contrast to most other bacterial phyla. Some families (i.e. Kdp-type ATPases) underwent far less horizontal gene transfer than other prokaryotic families, possibly due to their multisubunit characteristics. Functional motifs are better conserved across family lines than across organismal lines, and these motifs can be family specific, facilitating functional predictions. In some cases, gene fusion events created P-type ATPases covalently linked to regulatory catalytic enzymes. In one family (FUPA Family 24), a type I ATPase gene (N-terminal) is fused to a type II ATPase gene (C-terminal) with retention of function only for the latter. Several pseudogene-encoded nonfunctional ATPases were identified. Genome minimalization led to preferential loss of P-type ATPase genes. We suggest that in prokaryotes and some unicellular eukaryotes, the primary function of P-type ATPases is protection from extreme environmental stress conditions. The classification of P-type ATPases of unknown function into phylogenetic families provides guides for future molecular biological studies.

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Elite indica rice cultivars were cotransformed with genes expressing a rice chitinase (chi11) and a thaumatin-like protein (tlp) conferring resistance to fungal pathogens and a serine-threonine kinase (Xa21) conferring bacterial blight resistance, through particle bombardment, with a view to pyramiding sheath blight and bacterial blight resistance. Molecular analyses of putative transgenic lines by polymerase chain reaction, Southern Blot hybridization, and Western Blotting revealed stable integration and expression of the transgenes in a few independent transgenic lines. Progeny analyses showed the stable inheritance of transgenes to their progeny. Coexpression of chitinase and thaumatin-like protein in the progenies of a transgenic Pusa Basmati1 line revealed an enhanced resistance to the sheath blight pathogen, Rhizoctonia solani, as compared to that in the lines expressing the individual genes. A transgenic Pusa Basmati1 line pyramided with chi11, tlp, and Xa21 showed an enhanced resistance to both sheath blight and bacterial blight.

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