Reactive oxygen species and redox signaling undergo synergistic and antagonistic interactions with phytohormones to regulate protective responses of plants against biotic and abiotic stresses. However, molecular insight into the nature of this crosstalk remains scarce. We demonstrate that the hydrogen peroxide-responsive UDP-glucosyltransferase UGT74E2 of Arabidopsis thaliana is involved in the modulation of plant architecture and water stress response through its activity toward the auxin indole-3-butyric acid (IBA). Biochemical characterization of recombinant UGT74E2 demonstrated that it strongly favors IBA as a substrate. Assessment of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), IBA, and their conjugates in transgenic plants ectopically expressing UGT74E2 indicated that the catalytic specificity was maintained in planta. In these transgenic plants, not only were IBA-Glc concentrations increased, but also free IBA levels were elevated and the conjugated IAA pattern was modified. This perturbed IBA and IAA homeostasis was associated with architectural changes, including increased shoot branching and altered rosette shape, and resulted in significantly improved survival during drought and salt stress treatments. Hence, our results reveal that IBA and IBA-Glc are important regulators of morphological and physiological stress adaptation mechanisms and provide molecular evidence for the interplay between hydrogen peroxide and auxin homeostasis through the action of an IBA UGT.

SUMMARYMitochondria complex II (succinate dehydrogenase, SDH) plays a central role in respiratory metabolism as a component of both the electron transport chain and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. We report the identification of an SDH assembly factor by analysis of T-DNA insertions in At5g51040, a protein with unknown function that was identified by mass spectrometry analysis as a low abundance mitochondrial protein. This gene is co-expressed with a number of genes encoding mitochondrial proteins, including SDH1-1, and has low partial sequence similarity to human SDHAF2, a protein required for flavin-adenine dinucleotide (FAD) insertion into SDH. In contrast to observations of other SDH deficient lines in Arabidopsis, the sdhaf2 line did not affect photosynthetic rate or stomatal conductance, but instead showed inhibition of primary root elongation with early lateral root emergence, presumably due to the low SDH activity caused by the reduced abundance of SDHAF2. Both roots and leaves showed succinate accumulation but different responses in the abundance of other organic acids and amino acids assayed. Isolated mitochondria showed lowered SDH1 protein abundance, lowered maximal SDH activity and less protein-bound flavin-adenine dinucleotide (FAD) at the molecular mass of SDH1 in the gel separation. The short root phenotype and SDH function of sdhaf2 was fully complemented by transformation with SDHAF2. Application of the SDH inhibitor, malonate, phenocopied the sdhaf2 root architecture in WT. Whole root respiratory assays showed no difference between WT and sdhaf2, but micro-respirometry of the tips of roots clearly showed low oxygen consumption in sdhaf2 which could explain a metabolic deficit responsible for root tip growth.

Plant asparaginyl endopeptidases (AEPs) are expressed as inactive zymogens that perform maturation of seed storage protein upon cleavage-dependent autoactivation in the low-pH environment of storage vacuoles. The AEPs have attracted attention for their macrocyclization reactions, and have been classified as cleavage or ligation specialists. However, we have recently shown that the ability of AEPs to produce either cyclic or acyclic products can be altered by mutations to the active site region, and that several AEPs are capable of macrocyclization given favorable pH conditions. One AEP extracted from Clitoria ternatea seeds (butelase 1) is classified as a ligase rather than a protease, presenting an opportunity to test for loss of cleavage activity. Here, making recombinant butelase 1 and rescuing an Arabidopsis thaliana mutant lacking AEP, we show that butelase 1 retains cleavage functions in vitro and in vivo. The in vivo rescue was incomplete, consistent with some trade-off for butelase 1 specialization toward macrocyclization. Its crystal structure showed an active site with only subtle differences from cleaving AEPs, suggesting the many differences in its peptide-binding region are the source of its efficient macrocyclization. All considered, it seems that either butelase 1 has not fully specialized or a requirement for autocatalytic cleavage is an evolutionary constraint upon macrocyclizing AEPs.