PubMed · 11974855
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Keiji Nakajima. 2002. [Root pattern formation and intercellular signal transduction].. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11974855/
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Plastid-to-nucleus communication, crucial for regulating stress-responsive gene expression, has long intrigued researchers. This study reveals how the plastidial metabolite 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol-2,4-cyclopyrophosphate (MEcPP) orchestrates transcriptional reprogramming by modulating the rapid stress response element (RSRE), a conserved regulatory hub in the plant general stress response network. Yeast one-hybrid assays identified HAT1, a class II HD-Zip protein, as a negative regulator of RSRE. Genetic analyses, including HAT1 overexpression and knockdowns, confirmed its role in suppressing RSRE activity. Interaction assays uncovered a suppression network involving HAT1, the co-repressor TOPLESS (TPL), and the nuclear importin IMPα-9. Furthermore, HAT1 interacts with calmodulin-binding transcription activator 3 (CAMTA3), a calcium/calmodulin-binding transcription factor known to activate RSRE. AlphaFold modeling provided insights into the architecture of the HAT1-RSRE complex and HAT-CAMTA3 interaction, supported by conserved domains across plant species. Under stress condition, MEcPP accumulation promotes the 26S proteasomal degradation of TPL and IMPα-9 while reduces auxin-dependent HAT1 expression. Additionally, MEcPP enhances Ca2+ influx, activating CAMTA3 and enabling it to bind RSRE, thereby initiating the transcription of stress response genes. This dual mechanism-dismantling suppressors (HAT1, TPL, and IMPα-9) and activating CAMTA3-underscores MEcPP's central role in plastid-to-nucleus signaling. These findings emphasize MEcPP's pivotal function in dynamically regulating gene expression to maintain cellular homeostasis under environmental stress.
Developmental constraint is indicated when one finds that similar genetic mechanisms are responsible for independent origins of the same derived phenotype. We studied three independent origins of rosette flowering within the mustard family and attempted to evaluate the extent to which the same mechanisms were involved in each transition from the ancestral phenotype, inflorescence flowering. We used transformation to move a candidate gene, LFY, and its cis-regulatory sequences from rosette-flowering species into an inflorescence-flowering recipient, Arabidopsis thaliana, in place of its endogenous LFY gene. The transgenic phenotypes of experimental and control lines (containing an A. thaliana LFY transgene) and the expression driven by the cis-regulatory sequences show that changes at the LFY locus might have contributed to the evolution of rosette flowering in two of the three lineages. In the third case, changes upstream of LFY are implicated. Our data suggest that changes in a single developmental regulatory program were involved in multiple origins of the same derived trait but that the specific genetic changes were different in each case.
BACKGROUND: Ceratopteris richardii is a useful experimental system for studying gametophyte development and sexual reproduction in plants. However, few tools for cloning mutant genes or disrupting gene function exist for this species. The feasibility of systemic gene silencing as a reverse genetics tool was examined in this study. RESULTS: Several DNA constructs targeting a Ceratopteris protoporphyrin IX magnesium chelatase (CrChlI) gene that is required for chlorophyll biosynthesis were each introduced into young gametophytes by biolistic delivery. Their transient expression in individual cells resulted in a colorless cell phenotype that affected most cells of the mature gametophyte, including the meristem and gametangia. The colorless phenotype was associated with a 7-fold decrease in the abundance of the endogenous transcript. While a construct designed to promote the transient expression of a CrChlI double stranded, potentially hairpin-forming RNA was found to be the most efficient in systemically silencing the endogenous gene, a plasmid containing the CrChlI cDNA insert alone was sufficient to induce silencing. Bombarded, colorless hermaphroditic gametophytes produced colorless embryos following self-fertilization, demonstrating that the silencing signal could be transmitted through gametogenesis and fertilization. Bombardment of young gametophytes with constructs targeting the Ceratopteris filamentous temperature sensitive (CrFtsZ) and uroporphyrin dehydrogenase (CrUrod) genes also produced the expected mutant phenotypes. CONCLUSION: A method that induces the systemic silencing of target genes in the Ceratopteris gametophyte is described. It provides a simple, inexpensive and rapid means to test the functions of genes involved in gametophyte development, especially those involved in cellular processes common to all plants.