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Regulatory phosphorylation of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase in protoplasts from Sorghum mesophyll cells and the role of pH and Ca2+ as possible components of the light-transduction pathway.

The light-dependent phosphorylation of the photosynthetic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PyrPC) was shown to occur in protoplasts from Sorghum mesophyll cells. It was accompanied by an increase in PyrPC protein-serine-kinase activity and conferred the target-specific functional properties, i.e. an increase in Vmax and apparent Ki for L-malate, as previously found with the whole leaf. The light-dependent regulatory phosphorylation of PyrPC was (a) specifically promoted by the weak bases NH4Cl and methylamine (agents which increase cytosolic pH), but not by KNO3, (b) inhibited by the cytosolic protein-synthesis inhibitor, cycloheximide, thus confirming that protein turnover is a component of the signal-transduction cascade, as reported in [4], (c) found to moderately decrease in the presence of EGTA and to be strongly depressed when the Ca(2+)-selective ionophore A23187 was added to the incubation medium together with EGTA. Addition of Ca2+, but not of Mg2+, to the Ca(2+)-depleted protoplasts partially, but significantly, relieved the inhibition. Calcium deprivation apparently affected the in-situ light-activation of the PyrPC protein kinase. These data indicated that both Ca2+ and an increase in cytosolic pH are required for the induction of PyrPC protein kinase activity/PyrPC phosphorylation in illuminated protoplasts from Sorghum mesophyll cells.

Amino Acid Sequence

Thermal activation of peroxidase from tobacco leaf mesophyll cell walls.

Cell wall-bound peroxidase isolated from tobacco leaf mesophyll cell walls was found to consist of two isoenzymes (P1 and P2). Each exists in the form of a single subunit with the same molecular weight (35 000) as determined by sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Both isoenzymes exhibited maximum activities at 70 degrees. P1 increased to 265% and P2 to 140% of the activities assayed at 27 degrees; below this temperature the two isoenzymes had the same specific activity. On hydrolysis, P1 showed a carbohydrate content of 26.22% when the monosaccharides were analyzed by gas liquid chromatography; P2 gave 21.45%.

Carbohydrates

The soybean 94-kilodalton vegetative storage protein is a lipoxygenase that is localized in paraveinal mesophyll cell vacuoles.

Soybean leaves contain three proteins (the vegetative storage proteins or VSPs) that respond to nitrogen status and are believed to be involved in the temporary storage of nitrogen. One of these proteins, with a molecular mass of 94 kD and termed vsp94, was microsequenced. Partial amino acid sequence indicated that vsp94 was highly homologous to the lipoxygenase protein family. Further evidence that vsp94 is a lipoxygenase was obtained by demonstrating that vsp94 cross-reacted with a lipoxygenase antibody. Also, a lipoxygenase cDNA coding region was able to detect changes in an mRNA that closely parallel changes in vsp94 protein levels resulting from alteration of nitrogen sinks. Extensive immunocytochemical data indicate that this vsp94/lipoxygenase is primarily expressed in the paraveinal mesophyll cells and is subcellularly localized in the vacuole. These observations are significant in that they suggest that plant lipoxygenases may be bifunctional proteins able to function enzymatically in the hydroperoxidation of lipids and also to serve a role in the temporary storage of nitrogen during vegetative growth.

Amino Acid Sequence

Some enzymes present in the walls of mesophyll cells of tobacco leaves.

Cell-wall enzymes were assayed by the difference between enzyme activities in the whole cell and the protoplast. Both peroxidase (85.2%) and acid phosphatase (21.9%) were located in the wall. However, malate dehydrogenase was found only in the protoplast. A study of the time-course of the release of peroxidase and malate dehydrogenase into the incubation medium from cells either treated with cellulase or untreated, also indicated that peroxidase and not malate dehydrogenase was located in the wall. Only two anodic isoenzymes of peroxidase were present in the cell wall. These were more negatively charged than those of horseradish peroxidase.

Acid Phosphatase

Differential expression of the gene for the large subunit of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase in maize leaf cell types.

Mesophyll cells and bundle sheath cells, the dimorphic photosynthetic cell types in the C4 plant Zea mays, differ in protein composition. In particular, the large subunit of the chloroplast enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carbocylase (EC 4.1.1.39) is found entirely or almost exclusively in bundle sheath cells. The DNA sequence coding for this polypeptide is contained in the chloroplast DNA of both mesophyll cells and bundle sheath cells. RNA complementary to this coding sequence has been detected in RNA from bundle sheath cells, but is almost or entirely absent from mesophyll cells. Similarly, translatable mRNA for this polypeptide has been detected in RNA from bundle sheath cells, but not from mesophyll cells. Portions of the 4200 base pair maize plastid DNA sequence Bam 9 outside the large subunit gene region appear to be transcribed in mesophyll cells. Thus differential gene expression at the mRNA level has been directly demonstrated to occur in these two cell types.

Carboxy-Lyases

A GDSL lipase confers resistance to piercing-sucking insects in tobacco by strengthening leaf cuticle.

Piercing-sucking insects, such as whiteflies and aphids, cause massive economic losses in major crops around the world. During feeding, the stylets of piercing-sucking insects navigate cuticles, cell walls, epidermal cells, and mesophyll cells; thus, these barriers are vital for the resistance of plants to insects. However, the relationship between insect stylet probing behavior and the composition and structure of these barriers remains unclear. Here, we identified a tobacco Cuticle Related Factor (NtCRF), which was induced significantly by whitefly infestation. Bioassays showed that NtCRF positively regulated plant resistance against whiteflies and green peach aphids. Silencing of NtCRF did not affect plant jasmonic acid (JA) and salicylic acid (SA) defenses but shortened the stylet probing time of phloem-feeders. Further studies confirmed that silencing of NtCRF resulted in significant structure destruction of the leaf cuticle and led to increased epidermal permeability. Overexpression of NtCRF in Arabidopsis also significantly enhanced the plant's resistance against whiteflies and green peach aphids. Our findings expand understanding of plant-insect interactions and provide a strategy for genetic improvement of crop resistance against piercing-sucking insects.

Animals

Spatial regulation of photosynthetic development in C4 plants.

Leaf development in C4 plants requires the morphological and functional differentiation of two photosynthetic cell types (bundle sheath and mesophyll). Photosynthetic reactions are split between bundle sheath and mesophyll cells, with each cell type accumulating a specific complement of photosynthetic enzymes. Current evidence suggests that in order to activate this cell-specific expression of photosynthetic genes, bundle sheath and mesophyll cells must interpret positional information distributed locally around each vein.

Carbon Dioxide

Bundle sheath cell-specific expression of chloroplast genes encoding subunits of the NADH dehydrogenase-like complex in maize.

C4 photosynthesis alleviates the limitation caused by the oxygenase activity of Rubisco by partitioning photosynthetic functions between two distinct cell types: bundle sheath cells (BSCs) and mesophyll cells (MCs). These cell types perform different steps of photosynthesis using specialized machinery, accompanied by differential expression of chloroplast genes. To uncover the underlying molecular mechanisms for this differentiation, we isolated BSCs and MCs and compared their chloroplast transcriptomes, focusing on the chloroplast NADH dehydrogenase-like (NDH) complex, which is enriched in BSCs. To investigate whether RNA stabilization contributes to differential gene expression, we analyzed RNA footprints that reflect the binding of pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins to their RNA targets. We could not detect cell-type-specific accumulation of footprint RNAs. We then focused on transcriptional regulation, specifically on an operon that starts with the rps15 gene. The operon includes six ndh genes and the psaC gene encoding a photosystem I subunit. Transcript levels of all genes in this operon were higher in BSCs than in MCs, suggesting coordinated regulation as a transcriptional unit. Based on the genomic location of the rps15 gene within inverted repeats near the junctions on both sides of the small single copy region, we demonstrated that rps15, through two distinct promoters, is sufficient to drive preferential accumulation of downstream transcripts in BSCs.

Zea mays

Distribution of peroxisomes and glycolate metabolism in relation to calcium oxalate formation in Lemna minor L.

Calcium oxalate formation in Lemna minor L. occurs in structurally specialized cells called crystal idioblasts. Cytochemical and immunocytochemical protocols were employed to study the distribution of peroxisomes and the enzymes glycolate oxidase, glycine decarboxylase and ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (RuBisCO) in relation to synthesis of oxalate used for Ca oxalate formation. These enzymes are necessary for photorespiratory glycolate synthesis and metabolism. Using catalase cytochemistry, microbodies were found to exist in crystal idioblasts but were smaller and fewer than those found in mesophyll cells. Glycolate oxidase, which can oxidize glycolate to oxalate via glyoxylate, could not be found in microbodies of crystal idioblasts at any stage of development. This enzyme increased in amount in microbodies of mesophyll cells as they matured and could even be found in dense amorphous inclusions of mature cell peroxisomes. Glycine decarboxylase and RuBisCO could also be detected in increasing amount in mesophyll cells as they matured but could not be detected in idioblasts or were just detectable. Thus, Lemna idioblasts lack the machinery for synthesis of oxalate from glycolate. Based on these results and other available information, two general models for the generation and accumulation of oxalate used for Ca oxalate formation in crystal idioblasts are proposed. The biochemical specialization of crystal idioblasts indicated by this study is also discussed with respect to differentiation of cellular structure and function.

Alcohol Oxidoreductases

Is ubiquitin involved in the dedifferentiation of higher plant cells?

Transformation of a mesophyll cell into a viable protoplast that is able to re-enter the cell cycle, divide and further differentiate into organs, is accompanied by a very rapid and important increase in ubiquitin gene expression. Three major size classes of ubiquitin mRNA transcripts were observed in protoplasts as soon as they were isolated and incubated in their culture medium. The 1.6 kb mRNAs were expressed in response to the stress caused by the isolation procedure. They decreased after a few hours of incubation in the culture medium. The 1.9 kb and the 1.3 kb mRNAs enhanced in protoplasts were also observed in young leaves and in actively dividing cells: they appeared to be developmental-stage specific. They are not expressed in response to the stress, but may be considered to be part of the dedifferentiation program induced in protoplasts. These results suggest, as the enhancement of ubiquitin gene expression coincides with the dramatic changes in gene expression observed in protoplasts, that ubiquitin may play a fundamental role in the process of cellular dedifferentiation.

Blotting, Northern

Expression of photosynthetic genes from the C4 plant, maize, in tobacco.

Previous results from this laboratory have demonstrated the presence of genes for phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and pyruvate, orthophosphate dikinase in C3 plants. The structure and light-enhanced expression of these genes is very similar to that of the genes found in the C4 plant, maize. In order to investigate whether or not the regulation of these genes is similar in C3 and C4 plants, we have constructed chimeric genes using beta-glucuronidase as a reporter gene under the control of the maize promoters of the genes for phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, pyruvate, orthophosphate dikinase, and the small subunit of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase (RuBisCO). The chimeric genes were introduced into tobacco, a C3 plant. These genes were expressed primarily in leaf and stem tissue and the expression was enhanced by light. Thus, as in C4 plants, the genes are expressed in a tissue-specific and light-inducible manner in the C3 plant. Since the expression of these genes is restricted to specific cells in leaf tissue of C4 plants, we also investigated the spatial pattern of expression of the chimeric genes using histochemical analysis of beta-glucuronidase activity. High level expression of all of these genes was found in mesophyll cells. This included the small subunit of RuBisCO, which is not expressed in mesophyll cells but in bundle sheath cells in C4 plants. This report describes similarities between C3 and C4 plants in regulating the expression of these genes.

Base Sequence

Freeze-fracture for scanning electron microscopy.

Two different freeze-fracture methods are explored for preparation of biological material for scanning electron microscopy. In the simpler method the tissues are first fixed and dehydrated. They are then frozen and fractured, and after thawing, critical-point dried. This method has already been used in a number of studies of animal tissues (heart, liver, kidney). It is applied here to the examination of plant material (leaf mesophyll cells). In the second method tissues, or cells, are first infiltrated with cryoprotectant (dimethylsulphoxide) then frozen and fractured, and not fixed until after thawing. The fixed tissues are finally dehydrated and critical-point dried. This method also has previously been used in the study of animal tissues, and is applied here to carrot protoplasts, chicken erythrocytes, and leaf mesophyll cells.

Animals

Tagging of plant potyvirus replication and movement by insertion of beta-glucuronidase into the viral polyprotein.

Infectious RNA transcripts were generated from full-length cDNA clones of the tobacco etch potyvirus genome containing an insertion of the bacterial beta-glucuronidase (GUS) gene between the polyprotein-coding sequences for the N-terminal 35-kDa proteinase and the helper component-proteinase. The recombinant virus was able to spread systemically in plants and accumulated to a level comparable with wild-type tobacco etch potyvirus. Proteolytic processing mediated by the 35-kDa proteinase and helper component-proteinase resulted in production of an enzymatically active GUS-helper component-proteinase fusion protein. A virus passage line that retained the GUS insert after numerous plant-to-plant transfers, as well as a line that sustained a deletion of the GUS sequence, was recovered. Use of an in situ histochemical GUS assay in time-course experiments allowed the visualization of virus activity in single, mechanically inoculated leaf epidermal cells, in neighboring epidermal and mesophyll cells, in phloem-associated cells after long-distance transport, and in cells surrounding vascular tissues of organs above and below the site of inoculation. This system represents a powerful tool to study plant virus replication, short- and long-distance virus movement, and virus-host interactions. Additionally, we show that potyviruses may serve as highly efficient, autonomously replicating vectors for the expression of foreign genes in plants.

Endopeptidases

Routine cryofixation of plant tissue by propane jet freezing for freeze substitution.

Cryofixation and freeze substitution methods were developed for ultrastructural studies of cells in complex plant tissues. Leaf tissues and root tips of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. var. Maryland Mammoth) were frozen with a RMC MF7200 propane jet freezer and freeze substituted sequentially with tannic acid and osmium tetroxide/uranyl acetate in acetone. High quality preservation was consistently obtained for epidermal and phloem cells of the leaf, and epidermal, cortical, meristematic, and cap cells of the root tip. Leaf mesophyll cells were also often well frozen. Organelles, including nuclei, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, Golgi bodies, and plastids, showed excellent structural integrity and contrast. Most notable is the superior preservation of the cytoskeleton. Our results demonstrate that the propane jet freezer can be used routinely for high quality cryofixation of higher plant cells in certain complex tissues. This could have important implications for the use of cryofixation approach in a wide range of research in plant biology.

Cryopreservation

A 62-kD sucrose binding protein is expressed and localized in tissues actively engaged in sucrose transport.

Sucrose transport from the apoplasm, across the plasma membrane, and into the symplast is critical for growth and development in most plant species. Phloem loading, the process of transporting sucrose against a concentration gradient into the phloem, is an essential first step in long-distance transport of sucrose and carbon partitioning. We report here that a soybean 62-kD sucrose binding protein is associated with the plasma membrane of several cell types engaged in sucrose transport, including the mesophyll cells of young sink leaves, the companion cells of mature phloem, and the cells of the developing cotyledons. Furthermore, the temporal expression of the gene and the accumulation pattern of the protein closely parallel the rate of sucrose uptake in the cotyledon. Molecular cloning and sequence analysis of a full-length cDNA for this 62-kD sucrose binding protein indicated that the protein is not an invertase, contains a 29-amino acid leader peptide that is absent from the mature protein, and is not an integral membrane protein. We conclude that the 62-kD sucrose binding protein is involved in sucrose transport, but is not performing this function independently.

Amino Acid Sequence

The ultrastructure of the Spilocaea state of Venturia inaequalis in vivo.

There are indications that the fungus enzymatically degrades the cuticle and epidermal cell wall. The epidermal cells and to a lesser degree the palisade mesophyll cells beneath a sporulating lesion (susceptible reaction) are killed or seriously disrupted. Various stages of conidiogenesis, including development of the pprimary conidium, were observed. A conidium is delimited by a two-layered transverse septum. Before condium secession, a new two-layered inner wall is laid down around the entire conidiogenous cell adjacent to the plasmalemma. The apical region of the new inner wall proliferates beyond the annellation scar left by the seceded conidium and eventually produces another conidium.

Ascomycota

Patterns of actin filaments during cell shaping in developing mesophyll of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

Young leaves of wheat exhibit a smooth developmental gradient with meristematic cells at the base and highly differentiated cells at the tip. During differentiation, mesophyll cells attain a lobed outline resembling tube-shaped balloons with almost regularly spaced isthmi. Microfilament patterns in developing wheat mesophyll cells were investigated using fluorescent-labeled phalloidin. Various patterns were found, including delicate arrays of transversely oriented microfilaments in the cortex of the cytoplasm. A close correlation between changes in the patterns of cortical microfilaments, microtubules, cell wall microfibrils, and cell shape was observed. The fine arrays of transversely oriented microfilaments coaligned with bands of microtubules occurring during cell elongation. These bands were found beneath sites of intense wall deposition. It has recently been proposed that the resulting hoops of wall reinforcement prevent cell expansion in the corresponding regions and thus give rise to the peculiar cell shape. When cell expansion ceased, and the typical lobed cell shape was attained, a dense network of microfilaments was retained in the cytoplasm, which was in contrast to what has been described for the microtubular arrays.

Actin Cytoskeleton

Secondary plasmodesmata are specific sites of localization of the tobacco mosaic virus movement protein in transgenic tobacco plants.

Expression of the tobacco mosaic virus 30-kD movement protein (TMV MP) gene in tobacco plants increases the plasmodesmatal size exclusion limit (SEL) 10-fold between mesophyll cells in mature leaves. In the present study, we examined the structure of plasmodesmata as a function of leaf development. In young leaves of 30-kD TMV MP transgenic (line 274) and vector control (line 306) plants, almost all plasmodesmata were primary in nature. In both plant lines, secondary plasmodesmata were formed, in a basipetal pattern, as the leaves underwent expansion growth. Ultrastructural and immunolabeling studies demonstrated that in line 274 the TMV MP accumulated predominantly in secondary plasmodesmata of nonvascular tissues and was associated with a filamentous material. A developmental progression was detected in terms of the presence of TMV MP; all secondary plasmodesmata in the tip of the fourth leaf contained TMV MP in association with the filamentous material. Dye-coupling experiments demonstrated that the TMV MP-induced increase in plasmodesmatal SEL could be routinely detected in the tip of the fourth leaf, but was restricted to mesophyll and bundle sheath cells. These findings are discussed with respect to the structure and function of plasmodesmata, particularly those aspects related to virus movement.

Cytoplasm