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Changes in carbon flow and sink/source activities can affect floral, architectural, and reproductive traits of plants. In potato, overexpression (OE) of the purple acid phosphatase 2 of Arabidopsis (AtPAP2) resulted in earlier flowering, faster growth rate, increased tubers and tuber starch content, and higher photosynthesis rate. There was a significant change in sucrose, glucose and fructose levels in leaves, phloem and sink biomass of the OE lines, consistent with an increased expression of sucrose transporter 1 (StSUT1). Furthermore, the expression levels and enzyme activity of sucrose-phosphate synthase (SPS) were also significantly increased in the OE lines. These findings strongly suggest that higher carbon supply from the source and improved sink strength can improve potato tuber yield. (C) 2014 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Although the use of stable transformation technology has led to great insight into gene function, its application in high-throughput studies remains arduous. Agro-infiltration have been widely used in species such as Nicotiana benthamiana for the rapid detection of gene expression and protein interaction analysis, but this technique does not work efficiently in other plant species, including Arabidopsis thaliana. As an efficient high-throughput transient expression system is currently lacking in the model plant species A. thaliana, we developed a method that is characterized by high efficiency, reproducibility, and suitability for transient expression of a variety of functional proteins in A. thaliana and 7 other plant species, including Brassica oleracea, Capsella rubella, Thellungiella salsuginea, Thellungiella halophila, Solanum tuberosum, Capsicum annuum, and N. benthamiana. Efficiency of this method was independently verified in three independent research facilities, pointing to the robustness of this technique. Furthermore, in addition to demonstrating the utility of this technique in a range of species, we also present a case study employing this method to assess protein-protein interactions in the sucrose biosynthesis pathway in Arabidopsis.
Although the use of stable transformation technology has led to great insight into gene function, its application in high-throughput studies remains arduous. Agro-infiltration have been widely used in species such as Nicotiana benthamiana for the rapid detection of gene expression and protein interaction analysis, but this technique does not work efficiently in other plant species, including Arabidopsis thaliana. As an efficient high-throughput transient expression system is currently lacking in the model plant species A. thaliana, we developed a method that is characterized by high efficiency, reproducibility, and suitability for transient expression of a variety of functional proteins in A. thaliana and 7 other plant species, including Brassica oleracea, Capsella rubella, Thellungiella salsuginea, Thellungiella halophila, Solanum tuberosum, Capsicum annuum, and N. benthamiana. Efficiency of this method was independently verified in three independent research facilities, pointing to the robustness of this technique. Furthermore, in addition to demonstrating the utility of this technique in a range of species, we also present a case study employing this method to assess protein-protein interactions in the sucrose biosynthesis pathway in Arabidopsis.
Investigation of the TCA cycle and glycolytic metabolons and their physiological impacts in plants
(2016)
Molecularly imprinted polymer (MP) nanofilrns for transferrin (Trf) have been synthesized on gold surfaces by electro-polymerizing the functional monomer scopoletin in the presence of the protein target or around pre-adsorbed Trf. As determined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) the film thickness was comparable with the molecular dimension of the target. The target (re)binding properties of the electro-synthesized MIP films was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV) through the target-binding induced permeability changes of the MIP nanofilms to the ferricyanide redox marker, as well as by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and surface enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRAS) of the immobilized protein molecules. For Trf a linear concentration dependence in the lower micromolar range and an imprinting factor of similar to 5 was obtained by SWV and SPR. Furthermore, non-target proteins including the iron-free apo-Trf were discriminated by pronounced size and shape specificity. Whilst it is generally assumed that the rebinding of the target or of cross-reacting proteins exclusively takes place at the polymer here we considered also the interaction of the protein molecules with the underlying gold transducers. We demonstrate by SWV that adsorption of proteins suppresses the signal of the redox marker even at the bare gold surface and by SEIRAS that the treatment of the MIP with proteinase K or NaOH only partially removes the target protein. Therefore, we conclude that when interpreting binding of proteins to directly MIP-covered gold electrodes the interactions between the protein and the gold surface should also be considered.
The epitope imprinting approach applies exposed peptides as templates to synthesize Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) for the recognition of the parent protein. While generally the template protein binding to such MIPs is considered to occur via the epitope-shaped cavities, unspecific interactions of the analyte with non-imprinted polymer as well as the detection method used may add to the complexity and interpretation of the target rebinding. To get new insights on the effects governing the rebinding of analytes, we electrosynthesized two epitope-imprinted polymers using the N-terminal pentapeptide VHLTP-amide of human hemoglobin (HbA) as the template. MIPs were prepared either by single-step electrosynthesis of scopoletin/pentapeptide mixtures or electropolymerization was performed after chemisorption of the cysteine extended VHLTP peptide. Rebinding of the target peptide and the parent HbA protein to the MIP nanofilms was quantified by square wave voltammetry using a redox probe gating, surface enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy. While binding of the pentapeptide shows large influence of the amino acid sequence, all three methods revealed strong non-specific binding of HbA to both polyscopoletin-based MIPs with even higher affinities than the target peptides.
Electrosynthesis and characterization of molecularly imprinted polymers for peptides and proteins
(2019)
The persulfide sulfur formed on an active site cysteine residue of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate-dependent cysteine desulfurases is subsequently incorporated into the biosynthetic pathways of a variety of sulfur-containing cofactors and thionucleosides. In molybdenum cofactor biosynthesis, MoeB activates the C terminus of the MoaD subunit of molybdopterin (MPT) synthase to form MoaD-adenylate, which is subsequently converted to a thiocarboxylate for the generation of the dithiolene group of MPT. It has been shown that three cysteine desulfurases (CsdA, SufS, and IscS) of Escherichia coli can transfer sulfur from L-cysteine to the thiocarboxylate of MoaD in vitro. Here, we demonstrate by surface plasmon resonance analyses that IscS, but not CsdA or SufS, interacts with MoeB and MoaD. MoeB and MoaD can stimulate the IscS activity up to 1.6-fold. Analysis of the sulfuration level of MoaD isolated from strains defective in cysteine desulfurases shows a largely decreased sulfuration level of the protein in an iscS deletion strain but not in a csdA/sufS deletion strain. We also show that another iscS deletion strain of E. coli accumulates compound Z, a direct oxidation product of the immediate precursor of MPT, to the same extent as an MPT synthase-deficient strain. In contrast, analysis of the content of compound Z in Delta csdA and Delta sufS strains revealed no such accumulation. These findings indicate that IscS is the primary physiological sulfur-donating enzyme for the generation of the thiocarboxylate of MPT synthase in MPT biosynthesis.