Aldehyde dehydrogenase in tobacco pollen

Acetaldehyde is one of the intermediate products of ethanolic fermentation, which can be reduced to ethanol by alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). Alternatively, acetaldehyde can be oxidized to acetate by aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) and subsequently converted to acetyl-CoA by acetyl-CoA synthetase (ACS). To study the expression of ALDHs in plants we isolated and characterized a cDNA coding for a putative mitochondrial ALDH (TobAldh2A) in Nicotiana tabacum/. TobALDH2A shows 54-60% identity at the amino acid level with other ALDHs and shows 76% identity with maize Rf2, a gene involved in restoration of male fertility in cms-T maize. TobAldh2A transcripts and protein were present at high levels in the male and female reproductive tissues. Expression in vegetative tissues was much lower and no induction by anaerobic incubation was observed. This suggests that TobALDH expression is not part of the anaerobic response, but may have another function. The use of specific inhibitors of ALDH and the pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) complex indicates that ALDH activity is important for pollen tube growth, and thus may have a function in biosynthesis or energy productio

Phosphorylation of tobacco eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A upon pollen tube germination

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor eIF-4A is a member of the DEAD box family of RNA helicases and RNA-dependent ATPases. In tobacco, eIF-4A is encoded by a gene family with one isoform, eIF-4A8, being exclusively expressed in pollen. This pollen-specific isoform is a candidate for mediating translational control in the developing gametophyte. Here we show that eIF-4A is barely phosphorylated in mature pollen, but during pollen tube germination, two isoforms of eIF-4A become phosphorylated. Phosphoamino acid analysis indicated phosphorylation of threonine. In order to determine whether pollen-specific eIF-4A8 is among the phosphorylated isoforms, we raised transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing eIF-4A8 containing a histidine tag. Hereby, we could show that indeed eIF-4A8 is modified through phosphorylation. The biological relevance of the phosphorylation of eIF-4A is discusse

A Quantitative Method to Determine What Collisions Are Reasonably Foreseeable and Preventable

The development of Automated Driving Systems (ADSs) has made significant progress in the last years. To enable the deployment of Automated Vehicles (AVs) equipped with such ADSs, regulations concerning the approval of these systems need to be established. In 2021, the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations has approved a new United Nations regulation concerning the approval of Automated Lane Keeping Systems (ALKSs). An important aspect of this regulation is that "the activated system shall not cause any collisions that are reasonably foreseeable and preventable." The phrasing of "reasonably foreseeable and preventable" might be subjected to different interpretations and, therefore, this might result in disagreements among AV developers and the authorities that are requested to approve AVs. The objective of this work is to propose a method for quantifying what is "reasonably foreseeable and preventable". The proposed method considers the Operational Design Domain (ODD) of the system and can be applied to any ODD. Having a quantitative method for determining what is reasonably foreseeable and preventable provides developers, authorities, and the users of ADSs a better understanding of the residual risks to be expected when deploying these systems in real traffic. Using our proposed method, we can estimate what collisions are reasonably foreseeable and preventable. This will help in setting requirements regarding the safety of ADSs and can lead to stronger justification for design decisions and test coverage for developing ADSs.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures, 2 table

Evolution of rhizobium symbiosis

The evolution of rhizobium symbiosis is studied from several points of view in this thesis. The ultimate goal of the combined approaches is to unravel the genetic constrains of the symbiotic interaction. To this end the legume rhizobium symbiosis is studied in model plant species from the Papilionoideae subfamily such as Medicago truncatula and Lotus japonicus. In these model plants the genetic signaling cascade used for rhizobium symbiosis has been largely unraveled. The cascade is triggered by lipo-chitooligosaccharade-based signal molecules excreted by rhizobia, called Nod factors. In chapter 2 we make use of a whole genome duplication that has occurred at the root of the legume Papilionoideae subfamily to identify maintained paralogous gene pairs. We hypothesized that a substantial fraction of gene pairs which are maintained in distinct Papilionoideae lineages that split roughly 54 million years ago fulfill legume specific functions, among which is rhizobium symbiosis. Furthermore we argue that such approach could identify novel genes as it can also identify genes pairs that are (partially) redundant in function. With applying this approach specifically to the cytokinin phosphorelay pathway we identified a pair of type-A cytokinin Response Regulators that are involved in rhizobium symbiosis. This study provides a proof-of-principle for this strategy. It is known for over fifty years that cytokinin plays an important role in the symbiotic interaction between rhizobia and legume hosts. External application of cytokinin can even result in nodule formation. Only, never had cytokinin levels been quantified in legume root extracts upon symbiotic interaction. In chapter 3 we describe a method for extraction of both cytokinins and auxin from Medicago truncatula roots. We show that cytokinins accumulate in the root zone susceptible to symbiotic interaction upon Nod factor exposure and that this response is dependent on CCaMK; a key gene of the Nod factor signaling cascade. Furthermore, it was found that ethylene signaling has a negative effect on Nod factor induced cytokinin accumulation. The method set up to measure cytokinin as well as auxin provides a tool to further study hormone interactions in rhizobium symbiosis. Parasponia,the only non-legume that can engage the rhizobium symbiosis is also subject of study in this thesis. The genetics of the Parasponia-rhizobium symbiosis had not been studied before. It was therefore unknown whether this independently evolved rhizobium symbiosis makes use of the same symbiotic signaling cascade as legumes. In chapter 4 we provide first evidence that Parasponia indeed makes use of the same signaling cascade as found in legumes. Furthermore, we show that in Parasponia a single Nod factor-like receptor is indispensable for two symbiotic interactions; rhizobium and mycorrhiza, respectively. Therefore we conclude that the rhizobium Nod factor perception mechanism is recruited from the widespread endomycorrhizal symbiosis. Parallel to our studies in Parasponia (Chapter 4), the research team of Jean Dénarié of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) published the structure of the signal molecule of the arbuscular endomycorrhizae; theMyc factor (Maillet et al., 2011, Fungal lipochitooligosaccharide symbiotic signals in arbuscular mycorrhiza. Nature, 469, 58-63). It appeared that Myc factors and Nod factors are structurally very similar. In chapter 5 we discuss these findings and present a more thorough phylogenetic analysis of the NFP-like LysM-type receptor kinases. Together, these results suggest that non-legumes that can engage an arbuscular endomycorrhizaesymbiosis can recognize Nod factor-like molecules as well. The last chapter is about a study on the promiscuity and effectiveness of the Parasponia-rhizobium symbiosis. Parasponia uses a single receptor to control entry of rhizobium as well as arbuscular endomycorrhizal fungi and has evolved the rhizobium symbiosis only recently. This made us to hypothesize that Parasponia Nod factor receptors did not coevolve yet with rhizobia and therefore did not diverge from mycorrhizal recognition to develop specificity for the Nod factor. This implies that Parasponia could be a very promiscuous host for rhizobium species. In chapter 6 we describe that Parasponia andersonii can be nodulated by a broad range of rhizobia belonging to 4 different genera, and therefore it is concluded that Parasponia is highly promiscuous for rhizobial engagement. There is a drawback to this high symbiotic promiscuity. Among the strains identified to nodulate Parasponia, a very inefficient rhizobium species, Rhizobium tropici WUR1, was characterized. As this species is able to make effective nodules on two different legume species it suggests that the ineffectiveness of Parasponia andersonii nodules is the result of the incompatibility between both partners. In Parasponia andersonii nodules rhizobia of the ineffective strain become embedded in a dense matrix, but remain vital. This suggests that sanctions or genetic control against underperforming microsymbionts may not be effective in Parasponia. Therefore we argue that the Parasponia-Rhizobium symbiosis is a delicate balance between mutual benefits and parasitic colonization. Parasponiahas been given little attention in the rhizobium symbiosis field over the past two decades but with our efforts renewed interest has been established. We believe that in the end, the comparison of Parasponia to its closest related non-symbiotic sister species Trema, will result in the determination of the genetic constrains of rhizobium symbiosis. </p