TY - JOUR A1 - Schroeder, Florian A1 - Lisso, Janina A1 - Obata, Toshihiro A1 - Erban, Alexander A1 - Maximova, Eugenia A1 - Giavalisco, Patrick A1 - Kopka, Joachim A1 - Fernie, Alisdair R. A1 - Willmitzer, Lothar A1 - Muessig, Carsten T1 - Consequences of induced brassinosteroid deficiency in Arabidopsis leaves JF - BMC plant biology N2 - Background: The identification of brassinosteroid (BR) deficient and BR insensitive mutants provided conclusive evidence that BR is a potent growth-promoting phytohormone. Arabidopsis mutants are characterized by a compact rosette structure, decreased plant height and reduced root system, delayed development, and reduced fertility. Cell expansion, cell division, and multiple developmental processes depend on BR. The molecular and physiological basis of BR action is diverse. The BR signalling pathway controls the activity of transcription factors, and numerous BR responsive genes have been identified. The analysis of dwarf mutants, however, may to some extent reveal phenotypic changes that are an effect of the altered morphology and physiology. This restriction holds particularly true for the analysis of established organs such as rosette leaves. Results: In this study, the mode of BR action was analysed in established leaves by means of two approaches. First, an inhibitor of BR biosynthesis (brassinazole) was applied to 21-day-old wild-type plants. Secondly, BR complementation of BR deficient plants, namely CPD (constitutive photomorphogenic dwarf)-antisense and cbb1 (cabbage1) mutant plants was stopped after 21 days. BR action in established leaves is associated with stimulated cell expansion, an increase in leaf index, starch accumulation, enhanced CO2 release by the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and increased biomass production. Cell number and protein content were barely affected. Conclusion: Previous analysis of BR promoted growth focused on genomic effects. However, the link between growth and changes in gene expression patterns barely provided clues to the physiological and metabolic basis of growth. Our study analysed comprehensive metabolic data sets of leaves with altered BR levels. The data suggest that BR promoted growth may depend on the increased provision and use of carbohydrates and energy. BR may stimulate both anabolic and catabolic pathways. KW - Brassinosteroids KW - Arabidopsis KW - Tricarboxylic acid cycle KW - Biomass KW - Cell expansion KW - Growth Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-014-0309-0 SN - 1471-2229 VL - 14 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Benina, Maria A1 - Obata, Toshihiro A1 - Mehterov, Nikolay A1 - Ivanov, Ivan A1 - Petrov, Veselin A1 - Toneva, Valentina A1 - Fernie, Alisdair R. A1 - Gechev, Tsanko S. T1 - Comparative metabolic profiling of Haberlea rhodopensis, Thellungiella halophyla, and Arabidopsis thaliana exposed to low temperature JF - Frontiers in plant science N2 - Haberlea rhodopensis is a resurrection species with extreme resistance to drought stress and desiccation but also with ability to withstand low temperatures and freezing stress. In order to identify biochemical strategies which contribute to Haberlea's remarkable stress tolerance, the metabolic reconfiguration of H. rhodopensis during low temperature (4 degrees C) and subsequent return to optimal temperatures (21 degrees C) was investigated and compared with that of the stress tolerant Thellungiella halophyla and the stress sensitive Arabidopsis thaliana. Metabolic analysis by GC-MS revealed intrinsic differences in the metabolite levels of the three species even at 21 degrees C. H. rhodopensis had significantly more raffinose, melibiose, trehalose, rhamnose, myo-inositol, sorbitol, galactinol, erythronate, threonate, 2-oxoglutarate, citrate, and glycerol than the other two species. A. thaliana had the highest levels of putrescine and fumarate, while T halophila had much higher levels of several amino acids, including alanine, asparagine, beta-alanine, histidine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, serine, threonine, and valine. In addition, the three species responded differently to the low temperature treatment and the subsequent recovery, especially with regard to the sugar metabolism. Chilling induced accumulation of maltose in H. rhodopensis and raffinose in A. thaliana but the raffinose levels in low temperature exposed Arabidopsis were still much lower than these in unstressed Haberlea. While all species accumulated sucrose during chilling, that accumulation was transient in H. rhodopensis and A. thaliana but sustained in T halophila after the return to optimal temperature. Thus, Haberlea's metabolome appeared primed for chilling stress but the low temperature acclimation induced additional stress-protective mechanisms. A diverse array of sugars, organic acids, and polyols constitute Haberlea's main metabolic defence mechanisms against chilling, while accumulation of amino acids and amino acid derivatives contribute to the low temperature acclimation in Arabidopsis and Thellungiella. Collectively, these results show inherent differences in the metabolomes under the ambient temperature and the strategies to respond to low temperature in the three species. KW - Arabidopsis thaliana KW - Haberlea rhodopensis KW - low temperature stress KW - metabolite profiling KW - Thellungiella halophila Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2013.00499 SN - 1664-462X VL - 4 IS - 1 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gechev, Tsanko S. A1 - Benina, Maria A1 - Obata, Toshihiro A1 - Tohge, Takayuki A1 - Neerakkal, Sujeeth A1 - Minkov, Ivan A1 - Hille, Jacques A1 - Temanni, Mohamed-Ramzi A1 - Marriott, Andrew S. A1 - Bergström, Ed A1 - Thomas-Oates, Jane A1 - Antonio, Carla A1 - Müller-Röber, Bernd A1 - Schippers, Jos H. M. A1 - Fernie, Alisdair R. A1 - Toneva, Valentina T1 - Molecular mechanisms of desiccation tolerance in the resurrection glacial relic Haberlea rhodopensis JF - Cellular and molecular life sciences N2 - Haberlea rhodopensis is a resurrection plant with remarkable tolerance to desiccation. Haberlea exposed to drought stress, desiccation, and subsequent rehydration showed no signs of damage or severe oxidative stress compared to untreated control plants. Transcriptome analysis by next-generation sequencing revealed a drought-induced reprogramming, which redirected resources from growth towards cell protection. Repression of photosynthetic and growth-related genes during water deficiency was concomitant with induction of transcription factors (members of the NAC, NF-YA, MADS box, HSF, GRAS, and WRKY families) presumably acting as master switches of the genetic reprogramming, as well as with an upregulation of genes related to sugar metabolism, signaling, and genes encoding early light-inducible (ELIP), late embryogenesis abundant (LEA), and heat shock (HSP) proteins. At the same time, genes encoding other LEA, HSP, and stress protective proteins were constitutively expressed at high levels even in unstressed controls. Genes normally involved in tolerance to salinity, chilling, and pathogens were also highly induced, suggesting a possible cross-tolerance against a number of abiotic and biotic stress factors. A notable percentage of the genes highly regulated in dehydration and subsequent rehydration were novel, with no sequence homology to genes from other plant genomes. Additionally, an extensive antioxidant gene network was identified with several gene families possessing a greater number of antioxidant genes than most other species with sequenced genomes. Two of the transcripts most abundant during all conditions encoded catalases and five more catalases were induced in water-deficient samples. Using the pharmacological inhibitor 3-aminotriazole (AT) to compromise catalase activity resulted in increased sensitivity to desiccation. Metabolome analysis by GC or LC-MS revealed accumulation of sucrose, verbascose, spermidine, and gamma-aminobutyric acid during drought, as well as particular secondary metabolites accumulating during rehydration. This observation, together with the complex antioxidant system and the constitutive expression of stress protective genes suggests that both constitutive and inducible mechanisms contribute to the extreme desiccation tolerance of H. rhodopensis. KW - Antioxidant genes KW - Catalase KW - Desiccation tolerance KW - Drought stress KW - Metabolome analysis KW - Resurrection plants Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-012-1155-6 SN - 1420-682X VL - 70 IS - 4 SP - 689 EP - 709 PB - Springer CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Romy A1 - Mieulet, Delphine A1 - Hubberten, Hans-Michael A1 - Obata, Toshihiro A1 - Höfgen, Rainer A1 - Fernie, Alisdair R. A1 - Fisahn, Joachim A1 - Segundo, Blanca San A1 - Guiderdoni, Emmanuel A1 - Schippers, Jos H. M. A1 - Müller-Röber, Bernd T1 - Salt-responsive ERF1 regulates reactive oxygen species-dependent signaling during the initial response to salt stress in rice JF - The plant cell N2 - Early detection of salt stress is vital for plant survival and growth. Still, the molecular processes controlling early salt stress perception and signaling are not fully understood. Here, we identified SALT-RESPONSIVE ERF1 (SERF1), a rice (Oryza sativa) transcription factor (TF) gene that shows a root-specific induction upon salt and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) treatment. Loss of SERF1 impairs the salt-inducible expression of genes encoding members of a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade and salt tolerance-mediating TFs. Furthermore, we show that SERF1-dependent genes are H2O2 responsive and demonstrate that SERF1 binds to the promoters of MAPK KINASE KINASE6 (MAP3K6), MAPK5, DEHYDRATION-RESPONSIVE ELEMENT BINDING2A (DREB2A), and ZINC FINGER PROTEIN179 (ZFP179) in vitro and in vivo. SERF1 also directly induces its own gene expression. In addition, SERF1 is a phosphorylation target of MAPK5, resulting in enhanced transcriptional activity of SERF1 toward its direct target genes. In agreement, plants deficient for SERF1 are more sensitive to salt stress compared with the wild type, while constitutive overexpression of SERF1 improves salinity tolerance. We propose that SERF1 amplifies the reactive oxygen species-activated MAPK cascade signal during the initial phase of salt stress and translates the salt-induced signal into an appropriate expressional response resulting in salt tolerance. Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.113.113068 SN - 1040-4651 VL - 25 IS - 6 SP - 2115 EP - 2131 PB - American Society of Plant Physiologists CY - Rockville ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Romy A1 - Schippers, Jos H. M. A1 - Mieulet, Delphine A1 - Obata, Toshihiro A1 - Fernie, Alisdair R. A1 - Guiderdoni, Emmanuel A1 - Müller-Röber, Bernd T1 - Multipass, a rice R2R3-type MYB transcription factor, regulates adaptive growth by integrating multiple hormonal pathways JF - The plant journal N2 - Growth regulation is an important aspect of plant adaptation during environmental perturbations. Here, the role of MULTIPASS (OsMPS), an R2R3-type MYB transcription factor of rice, was explored. OsMPS is induced by salt stress and expressed in vegetative and reproductive tissues. Over-expression of OsMPS reduces growth under non-stress conditions, while knockdown plants display increased biomass. OsMPS expression is induced by abscisic acid and cytokinin, but is repressed by auxin, gibberellin and brassinolide. Growth retardation caused by OsMPS over-expression is partially restored by auxin application. Expression profiling revealed that OsMPS negatively regulates the expression of EXPANSIN (EXP) and cell-wall biosynthesis as well as phytohormone signaling genes. Furthermore, the expression of OsMPS-dependent genes is regulated by auxin, cytokinin and abscisic acid. Moreover, we show that OsMPS is a direct upstream regulator of OsEXPA4, OsEXPA8, OsEXPB2, OsEXPB3, OsEXPB6 and the endoglucanase genes OsGLU5 and OsGLU14. The multiple responses of OsMPS and its target genes to various hormones suggest an integrative function of OsMPS in the cross-talk between phytohormones and the environment to regulate adaptive growth. KW - development KW - expansin KW - transcription KW - Oryza sativa KW - hormone KW - abiotic stress Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.12286 SN - 0960-7412 SN - 1365-313X VL - 76 IS - 2 SP - 258 EP - 273 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER -