The plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase ACA8 is a novel target of Ca2+-dependent CIPK–CBL complexes which tunes the pump activity affecting a stimulus-induced cytosolic Ca2+ transient in planta.

14-3-3 proteins modulate the plant inward rectifier K؉ channel KAT1 heterologously expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Injection of recombinant plant 14-3-3 proteins into oocytes shifted the activation curve of KAT1 by ؉11 mV and increased the on . KAT1 was also modulated by 14-3-3 proteins of Xenopus oocytes. Titration of the endogenous 14-3-3 proteins by injection of the peptide Raf 621p resulted in a strong decrease in KAT1 current (ϳ70% at ؊150 mV). The mutation K56E performed on plant protein 14-3-3 in a highly conserved recognition site prevented channel activation. Because the maximal conductance of KAT1 was unaffected by 14-3-3, we can exclude that they act by increasing the number of channels, thus ruling out any effect of these proteins on channel trafficking and/or insertion into the oocyte membrane. 14-3-3 proteins also increased KAT1 current in inside-out patches, suggesting a direct interaction with the channel. Direct interaction was confirmed by overlay experiments with radioactive 14-3-3 on oocyte membranes expressing KAT1.

SummaryUsing the two-hybrid technique we identi®ed a novel protein whose N-terminal 88 amino acids (aa) interact with the C-terminal regulatory domain of the plasma membrane (PM) H + -ATPase from Arabidopsis thaliana (aa 847±949 of isoform AHA1). The corresponding gene has been named Ppi1 for Proton pump interactor 1. The encoded protein is 612 aa long and rich in charged and polar residues, except for the extreme C-terminus, where it presents a hydrophobic stretch of 24 aa. Several genes in the A. thaliana genome and many ESTs from different plant species share signi®cant similarity (50±70% at the aa level over stretches of 200±600 aa) to Ppi1. The PPI1 N-terminus, expressed in bacteria as a fusion protein with either GST or a His-tag, binds the PM H + -ATPase in overlay experiments. The same fusion proteins and the entire coding region fused to GST stimulate H + -ATPase activity. The effect of the His-tagged peptide is synergistic with that of fusicoccin (FC) and of tryptic removal of a C-terminal 10 kDa fragment. The His-tagged peptide binds also the trypsinised H + -ATPase. Altogether these results indicate that PPI1 N-terminus is able to modulate the PM H + -ATPase activity by binding to a site different from the 14-3-3 binding site and is located upstream of the trypsin cleavage site.