The plasma membrane sodium/proton exchanger Salt-OverlySensitive 1 (SOS1) is a critical salt tolerance determinant in plants. The SOS2-SOS3 calcium-dependent protein kinase complex upregulates SOS1 activity, but the mechanistic details of this crucial event remain unresolved. Here we show that SOS1 is maintained in a resting state by a C-terminal auto-inhibitory domain that is the target of SOS2-SOS3. The auto-inhibitory domain interacts intramolecularly with an adjacent domain of SOS1 that is essential for activity. SOS1 is relieved from auto-inhibition upon phosphorylation of the auto-inhibitory domain by SOS2-SOS3. Mutation of the SOS2 phosphorylation and recognition site impeded the activation of SOS1 in vivo and in vitro. Additional amino acid residues critically important for SOS1 activity and regulation were identified in a genetic screen for hypermorphic alleles.ion transport | salinity | sodium tolerance S alinity is a major problem in agriculture because the total area of salt-affected soils, including saline and sodic soils, exceeds 900 million ha (1). Salt-affected soils reduce both the ability of crops to take up water and the availability of mineral nutrients. Often, the high sodium (Na) content relative to other cations is the main factor affecting plant growth by causing a set of metabolic derangements (2). Because most crop species have only very limited capacities to cope with excess Na, the elucidation of Na tolerance mechanisms in plants is of paramount importance (2). Plant ion transporters mediating Na fluxes have recently been cloned and characterized, and the knowledge of the regulatory mechanisms of transporter abundance and activity in response to environmental, hormonal, and developmental signals is critical for understanding salinity tolerance (3). The plasma membrane Na/H antiporter SOS1 is essential for the salt tolerance of various model plants, including Arabidopsis thaliana (4) and its halophytic relative Thellungiella salsuginea (5), tomato (6), and the moss Physcomitrella patens (7). SOS1 is thought to mediate Na efflux at the root epidermis and longdistance transport from roots to shoots (4, 6) while protecting individual cells from Na toxicity (7-9). SOS1 is also indirectly required for the uptake of potassium (K) in the presence of Na, although the mechanistic basis is not fully understood (7,8,10). Both the protein kinase SOS2 and its associated calcium-sensor subunit SOS3 are required for the posttranslational activation of SOS1 Na/H exchange activity in Arabidopsis (11,12), and a similar regulatory module operates also in cereals (13).To understand further the mechanism(s) of SOS1 regulation, we identified the SOS2-dependent phosphorylation site and began to dissect the structure-function relationship in the SOS1 protein.Our results indicate that the SOS1 C-terminal domain comprises an auto-inhibitory domain the activity of which is counteracted by SOS2-dependent phosphorylation upon salinity stress.
Results
SOS1 ResiduesPhosphorylated by the SOS2 Protein Kinase. We have ...