Jasmonic acid and its methyl ester, methyl jasmonate (MeJA), are plant signaling molecules that affect plant growth and gene expression. Primary root growth of wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings was inhibited 50% when seedlings were grown on agar medium containing 0.1 IAMMeJA. An ethyl methanesulfonate mutant (jarn) with decreased sensitivity to MeJA inhibition of root elongation was isolated and characterized. Genetic data indicated the trait was recessive and controlled by a single Mendelian factor. MeJAinduced polypeptides were detected in Arabidopsis leaves by antiserum to a MeJA-inducible vegetative storage protein from soybean. The induction of these proteins by MeJA in the mutant was at least 4-fold less in jar] compared to wild type. In contrast, seeds ofjarl plants were more sensitive than wild type to inhibition of germination by abscisic acid. These results suggest that the defect in jar) affects a general jasmonate response pathway, which may regulate multiple genes in different plant organs.Jasmonate is an endogenous plant compound that affects growth and was recently recognized for its ability to induce the expression of specific plant genes. Methyl jasmonate (MeJA), the methyl ester ofjasmonic acid (JA), is one of the few plant compounds that is effective as a vapor at low concentrations, inducing tomato leaf proteinase inhibitors (1) and soybean leaf vegetative storage proteins (VSPs) (2). These two protein classes are also wound-inducible and recent results indicate that MeJA induces the phytoalexin plant defense pathway in several species (3). This evidence suggests that jasmonate may be an important stress-signaling molecule in plants.Jasmonate is derived from the lipoxygenase-dependent oxidation of linolenic acid (4). By analogy with the production of various eicosanoids involved in animal stress signaling (e.g., prostaglandins), it has been suggested that JA arises from the release of cell membrane fatty acids through the action of lipase in response to wounding or autolytic events (5, 6). MeJA also has pheromone activity in at least one insect (7) and is found in certain fungi. Thus, jasmonate is of general biological interest.Evidence that de novo synthesis ofjasmonate plays a role in regulating soybean VSP genes in response to wounding was recently reported (8). However, little is known about the signal-transduction mechanism for jasmonate action in plants. Mutants in phytohormone synthesis and response have received increased attention in recent years. Such mutants not only provide a better understanding of plant growth regulator function but, with emerging technology, may provide a strategy for the isolation of genes involved in plant hormone signaling pathways (9, 10). The purpose of this study was to find and characterize Arabidopsis mutants with an altered response to MeJA. METHODS 6837The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely...
Adverse environmental conditions produce endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in plants. In response to heat or ER stress agents, Arabidopsis seedlings mitigate stress damage by activating ERassociated transcription factors and a RNA splicing factor, IRE1b. IRE1b splices the mRNA-encoding bZIP60, a basic leucine-zipper domain containing transcription factor associated with the unfolded protein response in plants. bZIP60 is required for the upregulation of BINDING PROTEIN3 (BIP3) in response to ER stress, and loss-of-function mutations in IRE1b or point mutations in the splicing site of bZIP60 mRNA are defective in BIP3 induction. These findings demonstrate that bZIP60 in plants is activated by RNA splicing and afford opportunities for monitoring and modulating stress responses in plants.abiotic stress | heat stress | RNA splicing | signal transduction H eat and drought tolerance are some of the most complex and important adaptive traits in plants. These stresses are foremost in placing limits on plant productivity worldwide, and tolerance to these stresses are among the most highly sought after traits in crops (1), particularly in the face of climate change.The unfolded protein response (UPR) in eukaryotes is an ER stress response that activates three different classes of membraneassociated sensor transducers in mammalian cells-activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6), inositol-requiring enzyme-1 (IRE1) and protein kinase RNA (PKR)-like ER kinase. Yeast has only one ER stress transducer, IRE1; nonetheless, this factor sets off a massive UPR by triggering the expression of >5% of genes in the yeast genome. Many of these encode chaperones and ER-associated protein degradation components (2). IRE1 in yeast and mammalian cells acts by splicing a messenger RNA encoding a transcription factor that, then in turn, activates the expression of stress response genes (see recent reviews; refs. 3-5). Yeast cells splice an mRNA encoding a transcription factor called Hac1p (6, 7). The unspliced form of the Hac1 messenger RNA attenuates its own translation, and splicing relieves the translational repression (8).IRE1-mediated splicing is unconventional because mRNA splicing normally occurs in the nucleus, not in the cytoplasm (9). IRE1 is a type I membrane-spanning protein situated in the ER with its N terminus facing the ER lumen and its C terminus, which possesses catalytic functions, facing the cytosol. IRE1 is regarded as a dual functional enzyme possessing both serine/threonine protein kinase and endoribonuclease activity (10). Upon activation, the IRE1 dimer undergoes autotransphosphorylation in which one monomer phosphorylates the other (11). Through the analysis of the structure of the cytosolic domain of IRE1, Lee et al. (12) found that dimerization brings together the kinase domains in a face-to-face manner that would seemingly facilitate autotransphosphorylation.Autotransphosphorylation is then thought to open a nucleotide-binding site that, when occupied, produces a conformational change in the cytosolic domain so as t...
Stresses leading to the accumulation of misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) elicit a highly conserved ER stress response in plants called the unfolded protein response (UPR). While the response itself is well documented in plants, the components of the signaling pathway are less well known. We have identified three membrane-associated basic domain/ leucine zipper (bZIP) factors in Arabidopsis thaliana that are candidates for ER stress sensors/transducers. One of these factors, bZIP28, an ER-resident transcription factor, is activated in response to treatment by tunicamycin (TM), an agent that blocks N-linked protein glycosylation. Following TM treatment, bZIP28 is processed, releasing its N-terminal, cytoplasmfacing domain, which is translocated to the nucleus. Expression of a truncated form of bZIP28, containing only the cytoplasmic domain of the protein, upregulated the expression of ER stress response genes in the absence of stress conditions. Thus, bZIP28 serves as a sensor/transducer in Arabidopsis to mediate ER stress responses related to UPR.
Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is of considerable interest to plant biologists because it occurs in plants subjected to adverse environmental conditions. ER stress responses mitigate the damage caused by stress and confer levels of stress tolerance to plants. ER stress is activated by misfolded proteins that accumulate in the ER under adverse environmental conditions. Under these conditions, the demand for protein folding exceeds the capacity of the system, which sets off the unfolded protein response (UPR). Two arms of the UPR signaling pathway have been described in plants: one that involves two ER membrane-associated transcription factors (bZIP17 and bZIP28) and another that involves a dual protein kinase (RNA-splicing factor IRE1) and its target RNA (bZIP60). Under mild or short-term stress conditions, signaling from IRE1 activates autophagy, a cell survival response. But under severe or chronic stress conditions, ER stress can lead to cell death.
SummaryWe describe a signaling pathway that mediates salt stress responses in Arabidopsis. The response is mechanistically related to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress responses described in mammalian systems. Such responses involve processing and relocation to the nucleus of ER membrane-associated transcription factors to activate stress response genes. The salt stress response in Arabidopsis requires a subtilisin-like serine protease (AtS1P), related to mammalian S1P and a membrane-localized b-ZIP transcription factor, AtbZIP17, a predicted type-II membrane protein with a canonical S1P cleavage site on its lumen-facing side and a b-ZIP domain on its cytoplasmic side. In response to salt stress, it was found that myc-tagged AtbZIP17 was cleaved in an AtS1P-dependent process. To show that AtS1P directly targets AtbZIP17, cleavage was also demonstrated in an in vitro pull-down assay with agarose bead-immobilized AtS1P. Under salt stress conditions, the N-terminal fragment of AtbZIP17 tagged with GFP was translocated to the nucleus. The N-terminal fragment bearing the bZIP DNA binding domain was also found to possess transcriptional activity that functions in yeast. In Arabidopsis, AtbZIP17 activation directly or indirectly upregulated the expression of several salt stress response genes, including the homeodomain transcription factor ATHB-7. Upregulation of these genes by salt stress was blocked by T-DNA insertion mutations in AtS1P and AtbZIP17. Thus, salt stress induces a signaling cascade involving the processing of AtbZIP17, its translocation to the nucleus and the upregulation of salt stress genes.
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