A novel mitochondrial DnaJ/Hsp40 family protein BIL2 promotes plant growth and resistance against environmental stress in brassinosteroid signaling

Funding Information: Acknowledgments We thank Dr. Tsuyoshi Nakagawa (Shimane University) for the gift of the gateway vectors, pGWB2, pGWB80, pGWB5, and pGWB3. This work was supported in part by funding from the Program for Promotion of Basic Research Activities for Innovation Bioscience (PROBRAIN) to T.N. and T.A., and CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency to T.N. and T.A.Plant steroid hormones, brassinosteroids, are essential for growth, development and responses to environmental stresses in plants. Although BR signaling proteins are localized in many organelles, i.e., the plasma membrane, nuclei, endoplasmic reticulum and vacuole, the details regarding the BR signaling pathway from perception at the cellular membrane receptor BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1 (BRI1) to nuclear events include several steps. Brz (Brz220) is a specific inhibitor of BR biosynthesis. In this study, we used Brz-mediated chemical genetics to identify Brz-insensitive-long hypocotyls 2-1D (bil2-1D). The BIL2 gene encodes a mitochondrial-localized DnaJ/Heat shock protein 40 (DnaJ/Hsp40) family, which is involved in protein folding. BIL2-overexpression plants (BIL2-OX) showed cell elongation under Brz treatment, increasing the growth of plant inflorescence and roots, the regulation of BR-responsive gene expression and suppression against the dwarfed BRI1-deficient mutant. BIL2-OX also showed resistance against the mitochondrial ATPase inhibitor oligomycin and higher levels of exogenous ATP compared with wild-type plants. BIL2 participates in resistance against salinity stress and strong light stress. Our results indicate that BIL2 induces cell elongation during BR signaling through the promotion of ATP synthesis in mitochondria.Peer reviewe

Effects of conditioned medium on activities of PAL, CHS, DAHP synthase (DS-Co and DS-Mn) and anthocyanin production in suspension cultures of Fragaria ananassa. Plant Sci.

Abstract A conditioned medium (CM) prepared from cell suspension cultures of strawberry stimulated anthocyanin synthesis. The effect was significantly (PB0.05) greater than that of synthetic medium (SM), with macronutrient concentrations, carbohydrate concentrations and pH adjusted to those of CM. The activity of 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate (DAHP) synthase (EC 4.1.2.15) (DS-Mn, DS-Co), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL, EC 4.3.1.5) and chalcone synthase (CHS, EC 2.3.1.74) were monitored in the CM-and SM-cultured cells. PAL and CHS activities were found to increase significantly (PB 0.05) in the CM-cultured cells. CHS transcript levels were higher in the CM-cultured cells compared to transcript abundance in SM-cultured cells. There was no significant difference in the DS-Mn and DS-Co activities of cells grown in conditioned or synthetic media