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Annals of Botany May 2023Morphogenesis occurs through accurate interaction between essential players to generate highly specialized plant organs. Fruit structure and function are triggered by a...
BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Morphogenesis occurs through accurate interaction between essential players to generate highly specialized plant organs. Fruit structure and function are triggered by a neat transcriptional control involving distinct regulator genes encoding transcription factors (TFs) or signalling proteins, such as the C2H2/C2HC zinc-finger NO TRANSMITTING TRACT (NTT) or the MADS-box protein SEEDSTICK (STK), which are important in setting plant reproductive competence, feasibly by affecting cell wall polysaccharide and lipid distribution. Arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) are major components of the cell wall and are thought to be involved in the reproductive process as important players in specific stages of development. The detection of AGPs epitopes in reproductive tissues of NTT and other fruit development-related TFs, such as MADS-box proteins including SHATTERPROOF1 (SHP1), SHP2 and STK, was the focus of this study.
METHODS
We used fluorescence microscopy to perform immunolocalization analyses on stk and ntt single mutants, on the ntt stk double mutant and on the stk shp1 shp2 triple mutant using specific anti-AGP monoclonal antibodies. In these mutants, the expression levels of selected AGP genes were also measured by quantitative real-time PCR and compared with the respective expression in wild-type (WT) plants.
KEY RESULTS
The present immunolocalization study collects information on the distribution patterns of specific AGPs in Arabidopsis female reproductive tissues, complemented by the quantification of AGP expression levels, comparing WT, stk and ntt single mutants, the ntt stk double mutant and the stk shp1 shp2 triple mutant.
CONCLUSIONS
These findings reveal distinct AGP distribution patterns in different developmental mutants related to the female reproductive unit in Arabidopsis. The value of the immunofluorescence labelling technique is highlighted in this study as an invaluable tool to dissect the remodelling nature of the cell wall in developmental processes.
Topics: Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis Proteins; Plant Proteins; Transcription Factors; Mucoproteins; MADS Domain Proteins
PubMed: 36945741
DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcad046 -
Evolution & Development May 2021DELLA proteins are master growth regulators that repress responses to a group of plant growth hormones called gibberellins (GAs). Manipulation of DELLA function and... (Review)
Review
DELLA proteins are master growth regulators that repress responses to a group of plant growth hormones called gibberellins (GAs). Manipulation of DELLA function and signaling was instrumental in the development of high-yielding crop varieties that saved millions from starvation during the "Green Revolution." Despite decades of extensive research, it is still unclear how DELLA function and signaling mechanisms evolved within the land plant lineage. Here, we review current knowledge on DELLA protein function with reference to structure, posttranslational modifications, downstream transcriptional targets, and protein-protein interactions. Furthermore, we discuss older and recent findings regarding the evolution of DELLA signaling within the land plant lineage, with an emphasis on bryophytes, and identify future avenues of research that would enable us to shed more light on the evolution of DELLA signaling. Unraveling how DELLA function and signaling mechanisms have evolved could enable us to engineer better crops in an attempt to contribute to mitigating the effects of global warming and achieving global food security.
Topics: Animals; Embryophyta; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Gibberellins; Plant Growth Regulators; Plant Proteins; Plants; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 33428269
DOI: 10.1111/ede.12365 -
The Plant Journal : For Cell and... Jul 2015Polycomb group (PcG) proteins constitute a major epigenetic mechanism for gene repression throughout the plant life. For a long time, the PcG mechanism has been proposed... (Review)
Review
Polycomb group (PcG) proteins constitute a major epigenetic mechanism for gene repression throughout the plant life. For a long time, the PcG mechanism has been proposed to follow a hierarchical recruitment of PcG repressive complexes (PRCs) to target genes in which the binding of PRC2 and the incorporation of H3 lysine 27 trimethyl marks led to recruitment of PRC1, which in turn mediated H2A monoubiquitination. However, recent studies have turned this model upside-down by showing that PRC1 activity can be required for PRC2 recruitment and H3K27me3 marking. Here, we review the current knowledge on plant PRC1 composition and mechanisms of repression, as well as its role during plant development.
Topics: Arabidopsis Proteins; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Glucosyltransferases; Plant Development; Plant Proteins; Polycomb-Group Proteins
PubMed: 25754661
DOI: 10.1111/tpj.12818 -
International Journal of Molecular... Jan 2020Plants as immovable organisms sense the stressors in their environment and respond to them by means of dedicated stress response pathways. In response to stress,... (Review)
Review
Plants as immovable organisms sense the stressors in their environment and respond to them by means of dedicated stress response pathways. In response to stress, jasmonates (jasmonic acid, its precursors and derivatives), a class of polyunsaturated fatty acid-derived phytohormones, play crucial roles in several biotic and abiotic stresses. As the major immunity hormone, jasmonates participate in numerous signal transduction pathways, including those of gene networks, regulatory proteins, signaling intermediates, and proteins, enzymes, and molecules that act to protect cells from the toxic effects of abiotic stresses. As cellular hubs for integrating informational cues from the environment, jasmonates play significant roles in alleviating salt stress, drought stress, heavy metal toxicity, micronutrient toxicity, freezing stress, ozone stress, CO stress, and light stress. Besides these, jasmonates are involved in several developmental and physiological processes throughout the plant life. In this review, we discuss the biosynthesis and signal transduction pathways of the JAs and the roles of these molecules in the plant responses to abiotic stresses.
Topics: Cyclopentanes; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Oxylipins; Plant Growth Regulators; Plant Proteins; Plants; Stress, Physiological
PubMed: 31963549
DOI: 10.3390/ijms21020621 -
Journal of Experimental Botany Aug 2019Systems biology approaches have been applied over the last two decades to study plant sulphur metabolism. These 'sulphur-omics' approaches have been developed in... (Review)
Review
Systems biology approaches have been applied over the last two decades to study plant sulphur metabolism. These 'sulphur-omics' approaches have been developed in parallel with the advancing field of systems biology, which is characterized by permanent improvements of high-throughput methods to obtain system-wide data. The aim is to obtain a holistic view of sulphur metabolism and to generate models that allow predictions of metabolic and physiological responses. Besides known sulphur-responsive genes derived from previous studies, numerous genes have been identified in transcriptomics studies. This has not only increased our knowledge of sulphur metabolism but has also revealed links between metabolic processes, thus indicating a previously unexpected complex interconnectivity. The identification of response and control networks has been supported through metabolomics and proteomics studies. Due to the complex interlacing nature of biological processes, experimental validation using targeted or systems approaches is ongoing. There is still room for improvement in integrating the findings from studies of metabolomes, proteomes, and metabolic fluxes into a single unifying concept and to generate consistent models. We therefore suggest a joint effort of the sulphur research community to standardize data acquisition. Furthermore, focusing on a few different model plant systems would help overcome the problem of fragmented data, and would allow us to provide a standard data set against which future experiments can be designed and compared.
Topics: Computational Biology; Metabolomics; Plant Proteins; Plants; Proteome; Sulfur; Systems Biology
PubMed: 31404467
DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erz260 -
Toxins Oct 2019Dianthin enzymes belong to ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) of type 1, i.e., they only consist of a catalytic domain and do not have a cell binding moiety.... (Review)
Review
Dianthin enzymes belong to ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) of type 1, i.e., they only consist of a catalytic domain and do not have a cell binding moiety. Dianthin-30 is very similar to saporin-S3 and saporin-S6, two RIPs often used to design targeted toxins for tumor therapy and already tested in some clinical trials. Nevertheless, dianthin enzymes also exhibit differences to saporin with regard to structure, efficacy, toxicity, immunogenicity and production by heterologous expression. Some of the distinctions might make dianthin more suitable for targeted tumor therapies than other RIPs. The present review provides an overview of the history of dianthin discovery and illuminates its structure, function and role in targeted toxins. It further discusses the option to increase the efficacy of dianthin by endosomal escape enhancers.
Topics: Animals; Endosomes; Humans; Molecular Targeted Therapy; Neoplasms; Plant Proteins; Ribosome Inactivating Proteins; Toxins, Biological
PubMed: 31614697
DOI: 10.3390/toxins11100592 -
BMC Plant Biology Oct 2023Mechanosensitive (MS) ion channels provide efficient molecular mechanism for transducing mechanical forces into intracellular ion fluxes in all kingdoms of life. The...
Mechanosensitive (MS) ion channels provide efficient molecular mechanism for transducing mechanical forces into intracellular ion fluxes in all kingdoms of life. The mechanosensitive channel of small conductance (MscS) was one of the best-studied MS channels and its homologs (MSL, MscS-like) were widely distributed in cell-walled organisms. However, the origin, evolution and expansion of MSL proteins in plants are still not clear. Here, we identified more than 2100 MSL proteins from 176 plants and conducted a broad-scale phylogenetic analysis. The phylogenetic tree showed that plant MSL proteins were divided into three groups (I, II and III) prior to the emergence of chlorophytae algae, consistent with their specific subcellular localization. MSL proteins were distributed unevenly into each of plant species, and four parallel expansion was identified in angiosperms. In Brassicaceae, most MSL duplicates were derived by whole-genome duplication (WGD)/segmental duplications. Finally, a hypothetical evolutionary model of MSL proteins in plants was proposed based on phylogeny. Our studies illustrate the evolutionary history of the MSL proteins and provide a guide for future functional diversity analyses of these proteins in plants.
Topics: Phylogeny; Plants; Ion Channels; Plant Proteins; Evolution, Molecular
PubMed: 37794319
DOI: 10.1186/s12870-023-04479-2 -
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Nov 2016Ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) are enzymes that deadenylate nucleic acids and are broadly distributed in the plant kingdom. Many plants that contain RIPs are... (Review)
Review
Ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) are enzymes that deadenylate nucleic acids and are broadly distributed in the plant kingdom. Many plants that contain RIPs are listed in the pharmacopoeias of folk medicine all over the world, mostly because of their toxicity. This review analyses the position occupied in traditional medicine by plants from which RIPs have been isolated. The overview starts from the antique age of the Mediterranean area with ancient Egypt, followed by the Greek and Roman classic period. Then, the ancient oriental civilizations of China and India are evaluated. More recently, Unani medicine and European folk medicine are examined. Finally, the African and American folk medicines are taken into consideration. In conclusion, a list of RIP-expressing plants, which have been used in folk medicine, is provided with the geographical distribution and the prescriptions that are recommended by traditional healers. Some final considerations are provided on the present utilization of such herbal treatments, both in developing and developed countries, often in the absence of scientific validation. The most promising prospect for the medicinal use of RIP-expressing plants is the conjugation of purified RIPs to antibodies that recognise tumour antigens for cancer therapy.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Pharmacopoeias as Topic; Phytotherapy; Plant Proteins; Plants, Medicinal; Ribosome Inactivating Proteins
PubMed: 27869738
DOI: 10.3390/molecules21111560 -
Molecular Plant Pathology Jun 2022Plant intracellular immune receptors known as NLR (nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat) proteins confer immunity and cause cell death. Plant NLR proteins that... (Review)
Review
Plant intracellular immune receptors known as NLR (nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat) proteins confer immunity and cause cell death. Plant NLR proteins that directly or indirectly recognize pathogen effector proteins to initiate immune signalling are regarded as sensor NLRs. Some NLR protein families function downstream of sensor NLRs to transduce immune signalling and are known as helper NLRs. Recent breakthrough studies on plant NLR protein structures and biochemical functions greatly advanced our understanding of NLR biology. Comprehensive and detailed knowledge on NLR biology requires future efforts to solve more NLR protein structures and investigate the signalling events between sensor and helper NLRs, and downstream of helper NLRs.
Topics: Cell Death; NLR Proteins; Plant Diseases; Plant Immunity; Plant Proteins; Plants; Proteins; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 35355394
DOI: 10.1111/mpp.13195 -
Molecular Plant Jan 2016The multistep phosphorelay (MSP) is a central signaling pathway in plants integrating a wide spectrum of hormonal and environmental inputs and controlling numerous... (Review)
Review
The multistep phosphorelay (MSP) is a central signaling pathway in plants integrating a wide spectrum of hormonal and environmental inputs and controlling numerous developmental adaptations. For the thorough comprehension of the molecular mechanisms underlying the MSP-mediated signal recognition and transduction, the detailed structural characterization of individual members of the pathway is critical. In this review we describe and discuss the recently known crystal and nuclear magnetic resonance structures of proteins acting in MSP signaling in higher plants, focusing particularly on cytokinin and ethylene signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana. We discuss the range of functional aspects of available structural information including determination of ligand specificity, activation of the receptor via its autophosphorylation, and downstream signal transduction through the phosphorelay. We compare the plant structures with their bacterial counterparts and show that although the overall similarity is high, the differences in structural details are frequent and functionally important. Finally, we discuss emerging knowledge on molecular recognition mechanisms in the MSP, and mention the latest findings regarding structural determinants of signaling specificity in the Arabidopsis MSP that could serve as a general model of this pathway in all higher plants.
Topics: Arabidopsis; Cytokinins; Ethylenes; Plant Proteins; Signal Transduction; Structure-Activity Relationship
PubMed: 26633861
DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2015.11.008