Biomedical subjects

R P Hangarter

Publications and source records attributed to R P Hangarter.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Genetic analysis of the gravitropic set-point angle in lateral roots of Arabidopsis.

Research on gravity responses in plants has mostly focused on primary roots and shoots, which typically orient to a vertical orientation. However, the distribution of lateral organs and their characteristically non-vertical growth orientation are critical for the determination of plant form. For example, in Arabidopsis, when lateral roots emerge from the primary root, they grow at a nearly horizontal orientation. As they elongate, the roots slowly curve until they eventually reach a vertical orientation. The regulation of this lateral root orientation is an important component affecting overall root system architecture. We found that this change in orientation is not simply due to the onset of gravitropic competence, as non-vertical lateral roots are capable of both positive and negative gravitropism. Thus, the horizontal growth of new lateral roots appears to be determined by what is called the gravitropic set-point angle (GSA). This developmental control of the GSA of lateral roots in Arabidopsis provides a useful system for investigating the components involved in regulating gravitropic responses. Using this system, we have identified several Arabidopsis mutants that have altered lateral root orientations but maintain normal primary root orientation.

Arabidopsis↗

PubMed2002

Spatial separation of light perception and growth response in maize root phototropism.

Although the effects of gravity on root growth are well known and interactions between light and gravity have been reported, details of root phototropic responses are less documented. We used high-resolution image analysis to study phototropism in primary roots of Zea mays L. Similar to the location of perception in gravitropism, the perception of light was localized in the root cap. Phototropic curvature away from the light, on the other hand, developed in the central elongation zone, more basal than the site of initiation of gravitropic curvature. The phototropic curvature saturated at approximately 10 micromoles m-2 s-1 blue light with a peak curvature of 29 +/- 4 degrees, in part due to induction of positive gravitropism following displacement of the root tip from vertical during negative phototropism. However, at higher fluence rates, development of phototropic curvature is arrested even if gravitropism is avoided by maintaining the root cap vertically using a rotating feedback system. Thus continuous illumination can cause adaptation in the signalling pathway of the phototropic response in roots.

Gravitropism↗

PubMed2001

Red-light-induced positive phototropism in Arabidopsis roots.

The interaction between light and gravity is critical in determining the final form of a plant. For example, the competing activities of gravitropism and phototropism can determine the final orientation of a stem or root. The results reported here indicate that, in addition to the previously described blue-light-dependent negative phototropic response in roots, roots of Arahidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. display a previously unknown red-light-dependent positive phototropic response. Both phototropic responses in roots are considerably weaker than the graviresponse, which often masks phototropic curvature. However, through the use of mutant strains with impaired gravitropism, we were able to identify a red-light-dependent positive phototropic response in Arabidopsis roots. The red-induced positive phototropic response is considerably weaker than the blue-light response and is barely detectable in plants with a normal gravitropic response.

Arabidopsis↗

PubMed2001

Phototropism in Arabidopsis roots is mediated by two sensory systems.

Phototropism has been well-characterized in stems and stem-like organs, but there have been relatively few studies of root phototropism. Our experiments suggest that there are two photosensory systems that elicit phototropic responses in roots of Arabidopsis thaliana: a previously identified blue-light photoreceptor system mediated by phototropin (=NPH1 protein) and a novel red-light-based mechanism. The phototropic responses in roots are much weaker than the graviresponse, which competes with and often masks the phototropic response. It was through the use of mutant plants with a weakened graviresponse that we were able to identify the activity of the red-light-dependent phototropic system. In addition, the red-light-based photoresponse in roots is even weaker compared to the blue-light response. Our results also suggest that phytochrome may be involved in mediating positive phototropism in roots.

Arabidopsis↗

PubMed2000

Interactions of light and ethylene in hypocotyl hook maintenance in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings.

Etiolated seedlings frequently display a hypocotyl or epicotyl hook which opens on exposure to light. Etylene has been shown to be necessary for maintenance of the hook in a number of plants in darkness. We investigated the interaction of ethylene and light in the regulation of hypocotyl hook opening in Arabidopsis thaliana. We found that hooks of Arabidopsis open in response to continuous red, far-red or blue light in the presence of up to 100 microliters l-1 ethylene. Thus a change in sensitivity to ethylene is likely to be responsible for hook opening in Arabidopsis, rather than a decrease in ethylene production in hook tissues. We used photomorphogenic mutants of Arabidopsis to demonstrate the involvement of both blue light and phytochrome photosensory systems in light-induced hook opening in the presence of ethylene. In addition we used ethylene mutants and inhibitors of ethylene action to investigate the role of ethylene in hook maintenance in seedlings grown in light and darkness.

Arabidopsis↗

PubMed1998

Auxin transport is required for hypocotyl elongation in light-grown but not dark-grown Arabidopsis.

Many auxin responses are dependent on redistribution and/or polar transport of indoleacetic acid. Polar transport of auxin can be inhibited through the application of phytotropins such as 1-naphthylphthalamic acid (NPA). When Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings were grown in the light on medium containing 1.0 microM NPA, hypocotyl and root elongation and gravitropism were strongly inhibited. When grown in darkness, however, NPA disrupted the gravity response but did not affect elongation. The extent of inhibition of hypocotyl elongation by NPA increased in a fluence-rate-dependent manner to a maximum of about 75% inhibition at 50 mumol m-2 s-1 of white light. Plants grown under continuous blue or far-red light showed NPA-induced hypocotyl inhibition similar to that of white-light-grown plants. Plants grown under continuous red light showed less NPA-induced inhibition. Analysis of photoreceptor mutants indicates the involvement of phytochrome and cryptochrome in mediating this NPA response. Hypocotyls of some auxin-resistant mutants had decreased sensitivity to NPA in the light, but etiolated seedlings of these mutants were similar in length to the wild type. These results indicate that light has a significant effect on NPA-induced inhibition in Arabidopsis, and suggest that auxin has a more important role in elongation responses in light-grown than in dark-grown seedlings.

Arabidopsis↗

PubMed1997

Gravity, light and plant form.

Plants have evolved highly sensitive and selective mechanisms that detect and respond to various aspects of their environment. As a plant develops, it integrates the environmental information perceived by all of its sensory systems and adapts its growth to the prevailing environmental conditions. Light is of critical importance because plants depend on it for energy and, thus, survival. The quantity, quality and direction of light are perceived by several different photosensory systems that together regulate nearly all stages of plant development, presumably in order to maintain photosynthetic efficiency. Gravity provides an almost constant stimulus that is the source of critical spatial information about its surroundings and provides important cues for orientating plant growth. Gravity plays a particularly important role during the early stages of seedling growth by stimulating a negative gravitropic response in the primary shoot that orientates it towards the source of light, and a positive gravitropic response in the primary root that causes it to grow down into the soil, providing support and nutrient acquisition. Gravity also influences plant form during later stages of development through its effect on lateral organs and supporting structures. Thus, the final form of a plant depends on the cumulative effects of light, gravity and other environmental sensory inputs on endogenous developmental programs. This article is focused on developmental interactions modulated by light and gravity.

Arabidopsis↗

PubMed1996

The light-induced reduction of the gravitropic growth-orientation of seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. is a photomorphogenic response mediated synergistically by the far-red-absorbing forms of phytochromes A and B.

Hypocotyls of dark-grown seedlings of Arabidosis thaliana exhibit a strong negative gravitropism, which is reduced by red and also by long-wavelength, far-red light treatments. Light treatments using phytochrome A (phyA)- and phytochrome B (phyB)-deficient mutants showed that this response is controlled by phyB in a red/far-red reversible way, and by phyA in a non-reversible, very-low-fluence response. Crosses of the previously analyzed phyB-1 allele (in the ecotype Landsberg erecta background) to the ecotype Nossen wild-type (WT) background resulted in a WT-like negative gravitropism in darkness, indicating that the previously described gravitropic randomization observed with phyB-1 in the dark is likely due to a second mutation independent of that in the PHYB gene.

Arabidopsis↗

PubMed1996

Blue-light promotion of flowering is absent in hy4 mutants of Arabidopsis.

Loss of a blue-light photoreceptor in the hy4 mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh substantially delayed flowering (> 100 d to flower vs. 40-50 d), especially with blue light exposure from lamps lacking much red (R) and/or far-red (FR) light. Red night breaks were promotory but flowering was still later for the hy4-101 mutant. However, with exposure to light from FR-rich lamps, flowering of all mutants was early and no different from the wild type. Thus, flowering of Arabidopsis involves a blue-light photoreceptor and other, often more effective photoreceptors. The latter may involve phytochrome photoresponses to R and FR, but with little or no phytochrome response to blue wave-lengths.

Arabidopsis↗

PubMed1996

The Arabidopsis ELF3 gene regulates vegetative photomorphogenesis and the photoperiodic induction of flowering.

Flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana is promoted by longday (LD) photoperiods such that plants grown in LD flower earlier, and after the production of fewer leaves, than plants grown in short-day (SD) photoperiods. The early-flowering 3 (elf3) mutant of Arabidopsis, which is insensitive to photoperiod with regard to floral initiation has been characterized elf3 mutants are also altered in several aspects of vegetative photomorphogenesis, including hypocotyl elongation. When inhibition of hypocotyl elongation was measured, elf3 mutant seedlings were less responsive than wild-type to all wavelengths of light, and most notably defective in blue and green light-mediated inhibition. When analyzed for the flowering-time phenotype, elf3 was epistatic to mutant alleles of the blue-light receptor encoding gene, HY4. However, when elf3 mutants were made deficient for functional phytochrome by the introduction of hy2 mutant alleles, the elf3 hy2 double mutants displayed the novel phenotype of flowering earlier than either single mutant while still exhibiting photoperiod insensitivity, indicating that a phytochrome-mediated pathway regulating floral initiation remains functional in elf3 single mutants. In addition, the inflorescences of one allelic combination of elf3 hy2 double mutants form a terminal flower similar to the structure produced by tfk1 single mutants. These results suggest that one of the signal transduction pathways controlling photoperiodism in Arabidopsis is regulated, at least in part, by photoreceptors other than phytochrome, and that the activity of the Arabidopsis inflorescence and floral meristem identity genes may be regulated by this same pathway.

Arabidopsis↗

PubMed1996

Phytochrome A regulates red-light induction of phototropic enhancement in Arabidopsis.

Phytochrome A (phyA) and phytochrome B photoreceptors have distinct roles in the regulation of plant growth and development. Studies using specific photomorphogenic mutants and transgenic plants overexpressing phytochrome have supported an evolving picture in which phyA and phytochrome B are responsive to continuous far-red and red light, respectively. Photomorphogenic mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana that had been selected for their inability to respond to continuous irradiance conditions were tested for their ability to carry out red-light-induced enhancement of phototropism, which is an inductive phytochrome response. We conclude that phyA is the primary photoreceptor regulating this response and provide evidence suggesting that a common regulatory domain in the phyA polypeptide functions for both high-irradiance and inductive phytochrome responses.

Arabidopsis↗

PubMed1994

Blue light sensory systems in plants.

Plant development is influenced by many environmental stimuli, including light, temperature and gravity. Of these stimuli, light is of particular importance because plants depend on it for energy and, thus, for survival. Moreover, virtually all stages of plant development are regulated in part by light through the action of various photosensory systems. Examples of light-regulated processes include germination, stem growth, leaf and root development, tropic responses and flower induction. This review provides an analysis of recent investigations of blue light sensory systems in plants. Current results suggest that plants respond to blue light through a complex photosensory network that incorporates the action of multiple blue light perception systems.

Light↗

PubMed1993

Novel use of positively charged nylon transfer membranes for trapping indoleacetic acid or other small anions during efflux from plant tissues.

Positively charged nylon blotting membranes were used as an anion binding medium to trap [14C]indoleactic acid (IAA) as it exited cells at the basal ends of Coleus blumei L. stem and Zea mays L. coleoptile segments. Autoradiography was used to visualize where the [14C] that moved out of the cut ends was localized on the nylon membrane. Diffusion of [14C]IAA from the initial point of contact with the nylon membrane was minimal. Comparison of the autoradiograms with anatomical tissue prints of the cut ends of the segments was used to determine what tissues participate in IAA movement. The results of these initial studies were consistent with other reports suggesting that [14C]IAA movement was primarily associated with vascular tissues in both C. blumei stems and corn coleoptiles, but the resolution was not sufficient to identify which vascular tissues were involved in IAA transport. With further refinements, this technique could also be used for studying the movement of other small charged molecules through plant tissues.

Anions↗

PubMed1992

Genetic separation of phototropism and blue light inhibition of stem elongation.

Blue light-induced regulation of cell elongation is a component of the signal response pathway for both phototropic curvature and inhibition of stem elongation in higher plants. To determine if blue light regulates cell elongation in these responses through shared or discrete pathways, phototropism and hypocotyl elongation were investigated in several blue light response mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana. Specifically, the blu mutants that lack blue light-dependent inhibition of hypocotyl elongation were found to exhibit a normal phototropic response. In contrast, a phototropic null mutant (JK218) and a mutant that has a 20- to 30-fold shift in the fluence dependence for first positive phototropism (JK224) showed normal inhibition of hypocotyl elongation in blue light. F1 progeny of crosses between the blu mutants and JK218 showed normal phototropism and inhibition of hypocotyl elongation, and approximately 1 in 16 F2 progeny were double mutants lacking both responses. Thus, blue light-dependent inhibition of hypocotyl elongation and phototropism operate through at least some genetically distinct components.

Arabidopsis↗

PubMed1991

Effect of fe-catalyzed photooxidation of EDTA on root growth in plant culture media.

Light from fluorescent lamps can induce formaldehyde production and iron deficiency in plant nutrient culture medium. Formaldehyde is produced from EDTA when it is oxidized by the photochemical reduction of ferric iron and it can accumulate to inhibitory levels. The medium becomes iron deficient because iron becomes unchelated and forms an unavailable precipitate as EDTA is oxidized. The combination of light-induced formaldehyde production and loss of available iron reduces the ability of the culture media to support growth of Arabidopsis thaliana roots. Removing ultraviolet and blue wavelengths with a yellow acrylic filter is a simple and effective means of preventing Fecatalyzed photooxidation of EDTA in plant culture media.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1990

Preventing photochemistry in culture media by long-pass light filters alters growth of cultured tissues.

Exposure of plant tissue culture media to light from fluorescent bulbs changed the growth regulating properties of the media. The light caused nutrient medium-dependent photosensitized degradation of the phytohormone indole-3-acetic acid and other media components. Photochemical changes in culture media were caused by light from 290 to 450 nanometers and were prevented with a yellow long-pass filter. The use of appropriately filtered light when culturing plant material can eliminate unnecessary variability by stabilizing the culture media composition.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1987

The effects of chloroplast coupling factor reduction on the energetics of activation and on the energetics and efficiency of ATP formation.

There are two separate aspects to the energetic control over the initiation of ATP formation by chloroplast thylakoid membranes: (i) the free energy requirement for the phosphorylation of ADP and (ii) the energy-dependent transformation of the coupling factor into a catalytically active state. Using flash excitation, we have been able to distinguish between limitations imposed on ATP formation by the energetics of coupling factor activation from limitations imposed by the thermodynamics of ADP phosphorylation. We have placed particular emphasis on the effects of coupling factor reduction. ATP hydrolysis, ATP synthesis, and the release of tightly bound [14C]ADP were initiated by fewer flashes in thylakoid membranes in which the coupling factors were prereduced than in membrane samples in which the coupling factor remained oxidized. Only under conditions in which ATP synthesis occurred against a large chemical potential (i.e. delta GATP) did the onset of net ATP synthesis require a larger electrochemical potential than did the activation of the coupling factor. Thus, only at delta GATP values greater than about 51 kJ.mol-1 for thylakoid membranes with oxidized coupling factors and about 45 kJ.mol-1 when the coupling factors are reduced was the onset of ATP synthesis dictated by the thermodynamic equilibrium between ATP and ADP. At lower delta GATP values, the electrochemical potential became energetically adequate to phosphorylate ADP prior to becoming adequate to activate the coupling factor. These data indicate that reduction of the coupling factor lowers the delta pH necessary for activation from approximately 2.9 to approximately 2.6 units. Accompanying the lower energetic requirement for the activation of the reduced coupling factor was an increase in the efficiency of ATP synthesis under conditions of limiting energization.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed1983

Light-induced production of singlet oxygen and superoxide by the fungal toxin, cercosporin.

Cercosporin, a toxin produced by members of the fungal genus Cercospora, is a photosensitizing compound which rapidly kills plant cells in the light. We have found that cercosporin, when activated by light in the presence of oxygen, is able to generate both singlet oxygen and superoxide ions. Cercosporin, when illuminated in the presence of O(2), reacted with cholesterol to form the 5alpha-hydroperoxide of cholesterol which is only produced by reaction with singlet oxygen. Cercosporin, in the presence of light, O(2), and a reducing substrate, was also able to reduce p-nitro blue tetrazolium chloride, a compound readily reduced by superoxide. Superoxide dismutase, a scavenger of superoxide, inhibited this reaction. Production of both singlet oxygen and superoxide by cercosporin must be considered when studying the possible mechanisms of resistance to cercosporin.

Journal Article↗