A var2 leaf variegation suppressor locus, SUPPRESSOR OF VARIEGATION3, encodes a putative chloroplast translation elongation factor that is important for chloroplast development in the cold

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Arabidopsis <it>var2 </it>mutant displays a unique green and white/yellow leaf variegation phenotype and lacks VAR2, a chloroplast FtsH metalloprotease. We are characterizing second-site <it>var2 </it>genetic suppressors as means to better understand VAR2 function and to study the regulation of chloroplast biogenesis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this report, we show that the suppression of <it>var2 </it>variegation in suppressor line <it>TAG-11 </it>is due to the disruption of the <it>SUPPRESSOR OF VARIEGATION3 </it>(<it>SVR3</it>) gene, encoding a putative TypA-like translation elongation factor. SVR3 is targeted to the chloroplast and <it>svr3 </it>single mutants have uniformly pale green leaves at 22°C. Consistent with this phenotype, most chloroplast proteins and rRNA species in <it>svr3 </it>have close to normal accumulation profiles, with the notable exception of the Photosystem II reaction center D1 protein, which is present at greatly reduced levels. When <it>svr3 </it>is challenged with chilling temperature (8°C), it develops a pronounced chlorosis that is accompanied by abnormal chloroplast rRNA processing and chloroplast protein accumulation. Double mutant analysis indicates a possible synergistic interaction between <it>svr3 </it>and <it>svr7</it>, which is defective in a chloroplast pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings, on one hand, reinforce the strong genetic link between VAR2 and chloroplast translation, and on the other hand, point to a critical role of SVR3, and possibly some aspects of chloroplast translation, in the response of plants to chilling stress.</p

Genetic Modification of Low Phytic Acid 1-1 Maize to Enhance Iron Content and Bioavailability

High phytate content in staple food crops is a major barrier to successful iron biofortification. We have exploited the low phytic acid 1-1 (lpa1-1) mutant of maize to generate transgenic plants with up-to 70 μg/g seed iron through the endosperm-specific overexpression of soybean ferritin, resulting in more than 2-fold improvement in iron bioavailability. The levels of bioavailable seed iron achieved in this study greatly exceed any achieved thus far and closely approach values estimated to have a nutritional impact on target populations. Gene expression studies reveal a large induction of the YS1 transporter in leaves and severe repression of an iron acquisition gene DMAS1 in roots, suggesting significant alterations in the iron homeostatic mechanisms in transgenic lpa1-1. Furthermore, preliminary tests show that the high-iron lpa1-1 seeds have higher germination rates and seedling vigor when compared to those of the nontransgenic seeds, which may help improve their value to plant breeders

Susceptibility to the Sugar Beet Cyst Nematode Is Modulated by Ethylene Signal Transduction in Arabidopsis thaliana

Previously, we identified Arabidopsis thaliana mutant rhd1-4 as hypersusceptible to the sugar beet cyst nematode Heterodera schachtii. We assessed rhd1-4 as well as two other rhd1 alleles and found that each exhibited, in addition to H. schachtii hypersusceptibility, decreased root length, increased root hair length and density, and deformation of the root epidermal cells compared with wild-type A. thaliana ecotype Columbia (Col-0). Treatment of rhd1-4 and Col-0 with the ethylene inhibitors 2-aminoeth-oxyvinylglycine and silver nitrate and the ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid suggests that the rhd1-4 hypersusceptibility and root morphology phenotypes are the result of an increased ethylene response. Assessment of known ethylene mutants further support the finding that ethylene plays a role in mediating A. thaliana susceptibility to H. schachtiibecause mutants that overproduce ethylene (eto1-1, eto2, and eto3) are hypersusceptible to H. schachtii and mutants that are ethylene-insensitive (etr1-1, ein2-1, ein3-1, eir1-1, and axr2) are less susceptible to H. schachtii. Because the ethylene mutants tested show altered susceptibility and altered root hair density and length, a discrimination between the effects of altered ethylene signal transduction and root hair density on susceptibility was accomplished by analyzing the ttg and gl2 mutants, which produce ectopic root hairs that result in greatly increased root hair densities while maintaining normal ethylene signal transduction. The observed normal susceptibilities to H. schachtii of ttg and gl2 indicate that increased root hair density, per se, does not cause hypersusceptibility. Furthermore, the results of nematode attraction assays suggest that the hypersusceptibility of rhd1-4and the ethylene-overproducing mutant eto3 may be the result of increased attraction of H. schachtii-infective juveniles to root exudates of these plants. Our findings indicate that rhd1 is altered in its ethylene response and that ethylene signal transduction positively influences plant susceptibility to cyst nematodes

Identification and Characterization of a Soybean Ethylene-Responsive Element-Binding Protein Gene Whose mRNA Expression Changes During Soybean Cyst Nematode Infection

Ethylene-responsive element-binding proteins (EREBPs) are members of a family of plant transcription factors. Conserved EREBP domains of these proteins bind to the GCC box, an ethylene-responsive promoter element found in many pathogenesis-related (PR) genes. Using degenerate primers to the EREBP domain from diverse plant species, an EREBPhomolog was isolated from a soybean cDNA library. Gel mobility-shift assays revealed that the translation product of this cDNA bound specifically to GCC box sequences. We, therefore, named this gene Glycine max ethylene-responsive element-binding protein 1 (GmEREBP1), i.e., a gene coding for the first confirmed GCC box-binding protein of soybean. GmEREBP1 mRNA abundance was analyzed by RNA blot hybridizations in soybean roots and shoots of cultivars Corsoy 79 and Hartwig, which are susceptible and resistant, respectively, to the soybean cyst nematode (Heterodera glycines). These analyses revealed that GmEREBP1 is expressed in a root-preferential manner and that GmEREBP1 mRNA abundance is changed after H. glycines infection. GmEREBP1 mRNA abundance decreased in infected (susceptible) ‘Corsoy 79’ roots, whereas it increased in abundance in infected (resistant) ‘Hartwig’ roots. Furthermore, ethephon treatment repressed GmEREBP1 mRNA accumulation in both cultivars, whereas wounding increased expression in both cultivars. These changes in mRNA steady-state levels suggest that GmEREBP1 plays a role in soybean-H. glycines interactions

Expression of an Arabidopsis phosphoglycerate mutase homologue is localized to apical meristems, regulated by hormones, and induced by sedentary plant-parasitic nematodes

We previously isolated a partial soybean cDNA clone whose transcript abundance is increased upon infection by the sedentary, endoparasitic soybean cyst nematode Heterodera glycines. We now isolated the corresponding full-length cDNA and determined that the predicted gene product was similar to the group of cofactor-dependent phosphoglycerate mutase/bisphosphoglycerate mutase enzymes (PGM/bPGM; EC 5.4.2.1/5.4.2.4). We designated the corresponding soybean gene GmPGM. PGM and bPGM are key catalysts of glycolysis that have been well characterized in animals but not plants. Using the GmPGM cDNA sequence, we identified a homologous Arabidopsis thaliana gene, which we designatedAtPGM. Histochemical GUS analyses of transgenic Arabidopsis plants containing theAtPGMpromoter::GUS construct revealed that the AtPGM promoter directs GUS expression in uninfected plants only to the shoot and root apical meristems. In infected plants, GUS staining also is evident in the nematode feeding structures induced by the cyst nematode Heterodera schachtii and by the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita. Furthermore, we discovered that the AtPGM promoter was down-regulated by abscisic acid and hydroxyurea, whereas it was induced by sucrose, oryzalin, and auxin, thereby revealing expression characteristics typical of genes with roles in meristematic cells. Assessment of the auxin-inducible AUX1 gene promoter (a gene coding for a polar auxin transport protein) similarly revealed feeding cell and meristem expression, suggesting that auxin may be responsible for the observed tissue specificity of the AtPGM promoter. These results provide first insight into the possible roles of PGM/bPGM in plant physiology and in plant-pathogen interactions

Changes in mRNA Abundance within Heterodera schachtii-Infected Roots of Arabidopsis thaliana

Gene expression changes in plant roots infected by plant-parasitic cyst nematodes are involved in the formation of nematode feeding sites. We analyzed mRNA abundance changes within roots of Arabidopsis thaliana during the early compatible interaction with Heterodera schachtii, the sugarbeet cyst nematode. Approximately 1,600 root sections, each containing a single parasitic nematode and its feeding site, and 1,600 adjacent, nematode-free root sections were excised from aseptic A. thaliana cultures 3 to 4 days after inoculation with H. schachtii. These tissue samples were termed infected and uninfected, respectively. Preparasitic nematodes were added to the uninfected tissue sample to maintain the nematode to plant tissue proportion. mRNA extracted from these two tissue samples was subjected to differential display analysis. Thirty-six cDNA clones corresponding to mRNA species with different abundance between both tissue samples were isolated. Of these clones, 24 were of A. thaliana origin and 12 were from H. schachtii. Differential display data predicted that the A. thaliana cDNA clones corresponded to 13 transcripts that were more abundant in the infected root sections and 11 transcripts that were more abundant in the uninfected root sections. H. schachtii cDNA clones were predicted to correspond to four transcripts that were more abundant in parasitic nematodes and to eight transcripts that were more abundant in preparasitic nematodes. In situ hybridization experiments confirmed the mRNA abundance changes in A. thalianaroots predicted by the differential display analyses for two A. thaliana clones

Formation of Innovative Strategies of Regional Economic Development

The new contours of innovative development of economic systems associated with the appearance of network models of innovation and new types of innovation: social, sustainable, user and inclusive,&nbsp; differ from the traditional approach to the functioning of the raw material model of the economy. The role and place of innovation infrastructure of economic systems in the development of national innovation systems remains paramount.&nbsp; In this research, the essence of the definition of "innovation infrastructure" in relation to economic systems is supplemented and expanded. In doing so, it specifies the factors providing the formation of the infrastructure of innovative activity of the economic systems which have an impact on the innovativeness of elements of economic systems at the micro-, meso- and macro level. The subject-object structure of information infrastructure of innovative activity of economic systems including business environment, innovative environment, information environment and communication environment is proposed. In addition, it also proposes the model of development of infrastructure of innovative activity focused on technological innovations on the basis of implementation of technological platforms. The worked out model of development of technological infrastructure of innovative activity of the economic system (macro level) contains the directions of transformation of the meso- and micro level where a special role is assigned to the creation of free economic zones which contribute to the development of new forms of interaction of the R&amp;D sector with the real sector of the economy, which will increase the susceptibility of the economic system of Russia and society as a whole to innovation and lead to the development of technological entrepreneurship and the formation of an innovative economy of a new type

The Mechanism of Variegation in immutans Provides Insight into Chloroplast Biogenesis

The immutans (im) variegation mutant of Arabidopsis has green and white-sectored leaves due to the absence of fully functional plastid terminal oxidase (PTOX), a plastoquinol oxidase in thylakoid membranes. PTOX appears to be at the nexus of a growing number of biochemical pathways in the plastid, including carotenoid biosynthesis, PSI cyclic electron flow, and chlororespiration. During the early steps of chloroplast biogenesis, PTOX serves as an alternate electron sink and is a prime determinant of the redox poise of the developing photosynthetic apparatus. Whereas a lack of PTOX causes the formation of photooxidized plastids in the white sectors of im, compensating mechanisms allow the green sectors to escape the effects of the mutation. This manuscript provides an update on PTOX, the mechanism of im variegation, and findings about im compensatory mechanisms