Plantas transgénicas con alto rendimiento en peso seco y almidón cuyos órganos de reserva presentan elevada textura, elevado contenido en almidón y elevado rendimiento en peso seco

Plantas transgénicas con alto rendimiento en peso seco y almidón cuyos órganos de reserva presentan elevada textura, elevado contenido en almidón y elevado rendimiento en peso seco. La presente invención proporciona plantas transgénicas con alto rendimiento en peso seco y almidón cuyos órganos de reserva presentan elevada textura, elevado contenido en almidón y elevado rendimiento en peso seco.Peer reviewedUniversidad Pública de Navarra OTRI, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (España)B1 Patente sin examen previ

Compuestos útiles para el tratamiento de infecciones bacterianas, composiciones farmaceúticas que los contienen, procedimiento de identificación de los mismos y sus aplicaciones

La presente invención describe una serie de compuestos útiles para reducir o anular procesos determinantes de la patogenicidad y virulencia bacterianas y de la adherencia bacteriana a superficies inertes o células tales como la producción de adhesinas, la motilidad flagelar y la formación de EPSs y biofilms bacterianos. Estos compuestos pueden usarse para la elaboración de composiciones farmacéuticas antibacterianas o de composiciones antisépticas para el tratamiento de un amplio abanico de infecciones bacterianas, como por ejemplo, E. coli, S. typhi, S. dysenteteriae, V. chlolerae, P. aeruginosa, H. pylori, L. monocytogenes, C. difficile y S. pyogenes. Además, se describe un procedimiento para la identificación de dichos compuestosPeer reviewedConsejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad Pública de NavarraA2 Solicitud de patente sin informe sobre el estado de la técnic

HPLC-MS/MS Analyses Show That the Near-Starchless aps1 and pgm Leaves Accumulate Wild Type Levels of ADPglucose: Further Evidence for the Occurrence of Important ADPglucose Biosynthetic Pathway(s) Alternative to the pPGI-pPGM-AGP Pathway

In leaves, it is widely assumed that starch is the end-product of a metabolic pathway exclusively taking place in the chloroplast that (a) involves plastidic phosphoglucomutase (pPGM), ADPglucose (ADPG) pyrophosphorylase (AGP) and starch synthase (SS), and (b) is linked to the Calvin-Benson cycle by means of the plastidic phosphoglucose isomerase (pPGI). This view also implies that AGP is the sole enzyme producing the starch precursor molecule, ADPG. However, mounting evidence has been compiled pointing to the occurrence of important sources, other than the pPGI-pPGM-AGP pathway, of ADPG. To further explore this possibility, in this work two independent laboratories have carried out HPLC-MS/MS analyses of ADPG content in leaves of the near-starchless pgm and aps1 mutants impaired in pPGM and AGP, respectively, and in leaves of double aps1/pgm mutants grown under two different culture conditions. We also measured the ADPG content in wild type (WT) and aps1 leaves expressing in the plastid two different ADPG cleaving enzymes, and in aps1 leaves expressing in the plastid GlgC, a bacterial AGP. Furthermore, we measured the ADPG content in ss3/ss4/aps1 mutants impaired in starch granule initiation and chloroplastic ADPG synthesis. We found that, irrespective of their starch contents, pgm and aps1 leaves, WT and aps1 leaves expressing in the plastid ADPG cleaving enzymes, and aps1 leaves expressing in the plastid GlgC accumulate WT ADPG content. In clear contrast, ss3/ss4/aps1 leaves accumulated ca. 300 fold-more ADPG than WT leaves. The overall data showed that, in Arabidopsis leaves, (a) there are important ADPG biosynthetic pathways, other than the pPGI-pPGM-AGP pathway, (b) pPGM and AGP are not major determinants of intracellular ADPG content, and (c) the contribution of the chloroplastic ADPG pool to the total ADPG pool is low.This research was partially supported by the grants [BIO2010-18239] from the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (Spain) and [IIM010491.RI1] from the Government of Navarra, and by Iden Biotechnology. This research was also supported by Scientific Research on Innovative Areas [22114507] and Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) [22380186] from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.Peer Reviewe

Unraveling the role of transient starch in the response of Arabidopsis to elevated CO2 under long-day conditions

Previous studies on Arabidopsis under long-term exposure to elevated CO2 have been conducted using starch synthesis and breakdown mutants cultured under short day conditions. These studies showed that starch synthesis can ameliorate the photosynthetic reduction caused by soluble sugar-mediated feedback regulation. In this work we characterized the effect of long-term exposure to elevated CO2 (800 ppm) on growth, photosynthesis and content of primary photosynthates in long-day grown wild type plants as well as the near starch-less (aps1) and the starch-excess (gwd) mutants. Notably, elevated CO2 promoted growth of both wild type and aps1 plants but had no effect on gwd plants. Growth promotion by elevated CO2 was accompanied by an increased net photosynthesis in WT and aps1 plants. However, the plants with the highest starch content (wild type at elevated CO2, gwd at ambient CO2, and gwd at elevated CO2) were the ones that suffered decreased in in vivo maximum carboxylation rate of Rubisco, and therefore, photosynthetic down-regulation. Further, the photosynthetic rates of wild type at elevated CO2 and gwd at elevated CO2 were acclimated to elevated CO2. Notably, elevated CO2 promoted the accumulation of stress-responsive and senescence-associated amino acid markers in gwd plants. The results presented in this work provide evidence that under long-day conditions, temporary storage of overflow photosynthate as starch negatively affect Rubisco performance. These data are consistent with earlier hypothesis that photosynthetic acclimation can be caused by accelerated senescence and hindrance of CO2 diffusion to the stroma due to accumulation of large starch granules

Arabidopsis thaliana mutants lacking ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase can accumulate high levels of starch and ADP-glucose: further evidences for the occurrence of important sources, other than ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase, of ADP-glucose linked to starch biosynthesis

Póster presentado en la The Annual Plant Biology Meeting, celebrada en Minneapolis del 6 al 10 de agosto de 2011.Peer Reviewe

Characterization of multiple SPS knockout mutants reveals redundant functions of the four Arabidopsis sucrose phosphate synthase isoforms in plant viability, and strongly indicates that enhanced respiration and accelerated starch turnover can alleviate the blockage of sucrose biosynthesis

We characterized multiple knock-out mutants of the four Arabidopsis sucrose phosphate synthase (SPSA1, SPSA2, SPSB and SPSC) isoforms. Despite their reduced SPS activity, spsa1/spsa2, spsa1/spsb, spsa2/spsb, spsa2/spsc, spsb/spsc, spsa1/spsa2/spsb and spsa2/spsb/spsc mutants displayed wild type (WT) vegetative and reproductive morphology, and showed WT photosynthetic capacity and respiration. In contrast, growth of rosettes, flowers and siliques of the spsa1/spsc and spsa1/spsa2/spsc mutants was reduced compared with WT plants. Furthermore, these plants displayed a high dark respiration phenotype. spsa1/spsb/spsc and spsa1/spsa2/spsb/spsc seeds poorly germinated and produced aberrant and sterile plants. Leaves of all viable sps mutants, except spsa1/spsc and spsa1/spsa2/spsc, accumulated WT levels of nonstructural carbohydrates. spsa1/spsc leaves possessed high levels of metabolic intermediates and activities of enzymes of the glycolytic and tricarboxylic acid cycle pathways, and accumulated high levels of metabolic intermediates of the nocturnal starch-to-sucrose conversion process, even under continuous light conditions. Results presented in this work show that SPS is essential for plant viability, reveal redundant functions of the four SPS isoforms in processes that are important for plant growth and nonstructural carbohydrate metabolism, and strongly indicate that accelerated starch turnover and enhanced respiration can alleviate the blockage of sucrose biosynthesis in spsa1/spsc leaves.This work was partially supported by the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (Spain) [grant numbers BIO2010-18239, BIO2013-49125-C2-1-P, BIO2008-02292 and BIO2011-28847-C02-02]. A.M.S-L. acknowledges a predoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. M.B. acknowledges a post-doctoral fellowship from the Public University of Navarra.Peer Reviewe

Volatile compounds emitted by diverse phytopathogenic microorganisms promote plant growth and flowering through cytokinin action

Sánchez-López, Ángela María et al.It is known that volatile emissions from some beneficial rhizosphere microorganisms promote plant growth. Here we show that volatile compounds (VCs) emitted by phylogenetically diverse rhizosphere and non-rhizhosphere bacteria and fungi (including plant pathogens and microbes that do not normally interact mutualistically with plants) promote growth and flowering of various plant species, including crops. In Arabidopsis plants exposed to VCs emitted by the phytopathogen Alternaria alternata, changes included enhancement of photosynthesis and accumulation of high levels of cytokinins (CKs) and sugars. Evidence obtained using transgenic Arabidopsis plants with altered CK status show that CKs play essential roles in this phenomenon, because growth and flowering responses to the VCs were reduced in mutants with CK-deficiency (35S:AtCKX1) or low receptor sensitivity (ahk2/3). Further, we demonstrate that the plant responses to fungal VCs are light-dependent. Transcriptomic analyses of Arabidopsis leaves exposed to A. alternata VCs revealed changes in the expression of light- and CK-responsive genes involved in photosynthesis, growth and flowering. Notably, many genes differentially expressed in plants treated with fungal VCs were also differentially expressed in plants exposed to VCs emitted by the plant growth promoting rhizobacterium Bacillus subtilis GB03, suggesting that plants react to microbial VCs through highly conserved regulatory mechanisms.This work was partially supported by the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (Spain) (grant numbers BIO2010-18239 and BIO2013- 49125-C2-1-P), the Government of Navarra (grant number IIM010491.RI1), the I-Link0939 project from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (Grant L01204 from the National Program of Sustainability) and Palacky University institutional support. AM S-L and P G-G gratefully acknowledge predoctoral fellowships from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. M B and G A acknowledge post-doctoral fellowships awarded by the Public University of Navarra.Peer reviewe