19 research outputs found
Heat and water stress induce unique transcriptional signatures of heat-shock proteins and transcription factors in grapevine
Grapevine is an extremely important crop worldwide.
In southern Europe, post-flowering phases of the growth
cycle can occur under high temperatures, excessive light, and
drought conditions at soil and/or atmospheric level. In this
study, we subjected greenhouse grown grapevine, variety
Aragonez, to two individual abiotic stresses, water deficit stress
(WDS), and heat stress (HS). The adaptation of plants to stress
is a complex response triggered by cascades of molecular
networks involved in stress perception, signal transduction,
and the expression of specific stress-related genes and metabolites.
Approaches such as array-based transcript profiling allow
assessing the expression of thousands of genes in control
and stress tissues. Using microarrays, we analyzed the leaf
transcriptomic profile of the grapevine plants. Photosynthesis
measurements verified that the plants were significantly affected
by the stresses applied. Leaf gene expression was obtained
using a high-throughput transcriptomic grapevine array, the
23K custom-made Affymetrix Vitis GeneChip. We identified
1,594 genes as differentially expressed between control and
treatments and grouped them into ten major functional categories
using MapMan software. The transcriptome of Aragonez
was more significantly affected by HS when compared with
WDS. The number of genes coding for heat-shock proteins and
transcription factors expressed solely in response to HS suggesting
their expression as unique signatures of HS. However, a cross-talk between the response pathways to both stresses was
observed at the level of AP2/ERF transcription factors
An enigma in the genetic responses of plants to salt stresses
Soil salinity is one of the main factors restricting crop production throughout the world. Various salt tolerance traits and the genes controlling these traits are responsible for coping with salinity stress in plants. These coping mechanisms include osmotic tolerance, ion exclusion, and tissue tolerance. Plants exposed to salinity stress sense the stress conditions, convey specific stimuli signals, and initiate responses against stress through the activation of tolerance mechanisms that include multiple genes and pathways. Advances in our understanding of the genetic responses of plants to salinity and their connections with yield improvement are essential for attaining sustainable agriculture. Although a wide range of studies have been conducted that demonstrate genetic variations in response to salinity stress, numerous questions need to be answered to fully understand plant tolerance to salt stress. This chapter provides an overview of previous studies on the genetic control of salinity stress in plants, including signaling, tolerance mechanisms, and the genes, pathways, and epigenetic regulators necessary for plant salinity tolerance
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A novel transcriptional cascade regulating heat stress proteins during seed development in Arabidopsis.
Within the Arabidopsis thaliana family of 21 heat stress transcription factors (Hsfs), HsfA9 is exclusively expressed in late stages of seed development. Here, we present evidence that developmental expression of HsfA9 is regulated by the seed-specific transcription factor ABSCISIC ACID-INSENSITIVE3 (ABI3). Intriguingly, ABI3 knockout lines lack detectable levels of HsfA9 transcript and protein, and further ectopic expression of ABI3 conferred the ability to accumulate HsfA9 in response to abscisic acid in transgenic plantlets. Consequently, the most abundant heat stress proteins (Hsps) in seeds (Hsp17.4-CI, Hsp17.7-CII, and Hsp101) were not detectable in the ABI3 knockout lines, but their expression could be detected in plants ectopically expressing HsfA9 in vegetative tissues. Furthermore, this seed-specific transcription factor cascade was reconstructed in transient beta-glucuronidase reporter assays in mesophyll protoplasts by showing that ABI3 could activate the HsfA9 promoter, whereas HsfA9 in turn was shown to be a potent activator on the promoters of Hsp genes. Thus, our study establishes a genetic framework in which HsfA9 operates as a specialized Hsf for the developmental expression of Hsp genes during seed maturation
Identification and expression analysis of OsHsfs in rice*
Heat stress transcription factors (Hsfs) are the central regulators of defense response to heat stress. We identified a total of 25 rice Hsf genes by genome-wide analysis of rice (Oryza sativa L.) genome, including the subspecies of O. japonica and O. indica. Proteins encoded by OsHsfs were divided into three classes according to their structures. Digital Northern analysis showed that OsHsfs were expressed constitutively. The expressions of these OsHsfs in response to heat stress and oxidative stress differed among the members of the gene family. Promoter analysis identified a number of stress-related cis-elements in the promoter regions of these OsHsfs. No significant correlation, however, was found between the heat-shock responses of genes and their cis-elements. Overall, our results provide a foundation for future research of OsHsfs function
Ectopic overexpression of maize heat shock transcription factor gene ZmHsf04 confers increased thermo and salt-stress tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis
Tomato yellow leaf curl virus infection mitigates the heat stress response of plants grown at high temperatures
Efficient isolation of Magnolia protoplasts and the application to subcellular localization of MdeHSF1
Visualization of Nuclear Localization of Transcription Factors with Cyan and Green Fluorescent Proteins in the Red Alga Porphyra yezoensis
The plant sHSP superfamily: five new members in Arabidopsis thaliana with unexpected properties
The small heat shock proteins (sHsps), which are ubiquitous stress proteins proposed to act as chaperones, are encoded by an unusually complex gene family in plants. Plant sHsps are classified into different subfamilies according to amino acid sequence similarity and localization to distinct subcellular compartments. In the whole Arabidopsis thaliana genome, 19 genes were annotated to encode sHsps, of which 14 belong to previously defined plant sHsp families. In this paper, we report studies of the five additional sHsp genes in A. thaliana, which can now be shown to represent evolutionarily distinct sHsp subfamilies also found in other plant species. While two of these five sHsps show expression patterns typical of the other 14 genes, three have unusual tissue specific and developmental profiles and do not respond to heat induction. Analysis of intracellular targeting indicates that one sHsp represents a new class of mitochondrion-targeted sHsps, while the others are cytosolic/nuclear, some of which may cooperate with other sHsps in formation of heat stress granules. Three of the five new proteins were purified and tested for chaperone activity in vitro. Altogether, these studies complete our basic understanding of the sHsp chaperone family in plants