Project description:We used the flu mutant of Arabidopsis and a transgenic line that overexpresses the thylakoid-bound ascorbate peroxidase (tAPX) to address the interactions between different reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling pathways. The conditional flu mutant of Arabidopsis accumulates excess protochlorophyllide in the dark within chloroplast membranes that upon illumination acts as a photosensitizer and generates singlet oxygen (1O2). Immediately after the release of singlet oxygen rapid changes in nuclear gene expression occur. Distinct sets of genes were activated that were different from those induced by other reactive oxygen species, superoxide or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), suggesting that different types of active oxygen species activate distinct signaling pathways. It was not known whether the pathways operate separately or interact with each other. We have addressed this problem by modulating noninvasively the level of H2O2 in plastids by means of a transgenic line that overexpresses the thylakoid-bound ascorbate peroxidase (tAPX, line 14/2 PMID: 15165186). In the flu mutant overexpressing tAPX, the expression of most of the nuclear genes that were rapidly activated after the release of 1O2 was significantly higher in flu plants overexpressing tAPX, whereas in wild-type plants, overexpression of tAPX had only a very minor impact on nuclear gene expression. The results suggest that H2O2 antagonizes the 1O2-mediated signaling of stress responses as seen in the flu mutant. This cross-talk between H2O2- and 1O2-dependent signaling pathways might contribute to the overall stability and robustness of wild-type plants exposed to adverse environmental stress conditions. Experiment Overall Design: Arabidopsis thaliana rosette leaves were harvested after 2 h of reillumination following a 8h dark period for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix ATH1 microarrays. The entire experiment was performed six times, providing independent biological replicates. For each of the six experiments, all four lines, wild-type, thylakoidal ascorbate peroxidase overexpressor (over tAPX, line 14/2), flu mutant and flu plants overexpressing thylakoidal ascorbate peroxidase were grown for 3 weeks under continuous light at 90 mmol. m-2 . s-1, transferred to the dark for 8 h, and reilluminated for 120 min before the rosette leaves of at least 10 plants per line were harvested. Total RNAs from three separate biological experiments were pooled (= 1 biological rep.) for the preparation of cDNA and the subsequent synthesis of biotin-labeled complementary RNA as recommended by Affymetrix.

Project description:Shortly after the release of singlet oxygen (1O2), drastic changes in nuclear gene expression occur in the conditional flu mutant of Arabidopsis that reveal a rapid transfer of signals from the plastid to the nucleus. In contrast to retrograde control of nuclear gene expression by plastid signals described earlier, the primary effect of 1O2 generation in the flu mutant is not the control of chloroplast biogenesis but the activation of a broad range of signaling pathways known to be involved in biotic and abiotic stress responses. This activity of a plastid-derived signal suggests a new function of the chloroplast, namely that of a sensor of environmental changes that activates a broad range of stress responses. Inactivation of the plastid protein EXECUTER1 attenuates the extent of 1O2-induced up-regulation of nuclear gene expression, but it does not fully eliminate these changes. A second related nuclear-encoded protein, dubbed EXECUTER2, has been identified that is also implicated with the signaling of 1O2-dependent nuclear gene expression changes. Like EXECUTER1, EXECUTER2 is confined to the plastid. Inactivation of both EXECUTER proteins in the ex1/ex2/flu triple mutant is sufficient to suppress the up-regulation of almost all 1O2-responsive genes. Retrograde control of 1O2-responsive genes requires the concerted action of both EXECUTER proteins within the plastid compartment. Experiment Overall Design: Two individual biologica replicates, each containing material of five mature plants of wild type, flu, ex1/flu, ex2/flu, and ex1/ex2/flu, respectively, were used for the microarray analysis. Plants were germinated on soil and kept under continuous light until the beginning of bolting and then transferred to the dark for 8 h. Dark-incubated mature plants were reilluminated for 30 min and subsequently harvested for RNA extraction. Experiment Overall Design: The EX1 (At4g33630) T-DNA insertion line SALK 002088 and EX2 (At1g27510) T-DNA insertion line SALK 012127 were obtained from the European Arabidopsis Stock Centre (NASC). Homozygous mutant lines were identified by PCR analysis by using T-DNA-, EX1- and EX2-specific primers. Both T-DNA-lines were crossed with a flu Col-0 line that had been obtained by 5 backcrosses of flu1-1 in Landsberg erecta with wild-type Columbia. The ex1/flu and ex2/flu mutant lines were crossed, and within the segregating F2 population triple mutants were identified by PCR-based genotyping. For the cultivation of mature plants, seeds of wild type, flu, ex1/flu, ex2/flu, and ex1/ex2/flu, all in Col-0 ecotype, were sown on soil and plants were grown under continuous light (100 mol m 2 s 1).

Project description:Arabidopsis thaliana cell suspension cultures (ACSC) were subjected to 30-min, mild chemical treatments with three different singlet oxygen elicitors at low-medium light conditions (150 µE m–2 s–1) with the aim of getting a better understanding of singlet oxygen-mediated defence responses in plants. The three elicitors Indigo Carmine (IC), Methylene Violet (MV) and Rose Bengal (RB) at a concentration of 0.5 µM were chosen because they exhibited different abilities to permeate the plasma membrane and to accumulate in the cell soma or organelles such as chloroplasts. In addition, ACSC were treated with 500 µM H2O2 for comparison. Confocal image analysis of Arabidopsis cells revealed that IC was not retained in cells, whereas MV and RB permeated the plasma membrane and accumulated in the chloroplast envelope and inside chloroplasts, respectively. As a consequence of their different cellular location, the physiological, transcriptional and photosynthetic responses of Arabidopsis cells to singlet oxygen production varied from each other and the activation of programmed cell death (PCD) was observed in ACSC treated with 0.5 µM RB, but not with the other elicitor nor with 500 µM H2O2. The role of chloroplasts in the activation of PCD was further investigated when this physiological response was analyzed in dark-grown cell cultures containing undifferentiated plastids. Interestingly, PCD was only activated in light-grown, but not in dark-grown, Arabidopsis cell cultures, suggesting that singlet oxygen-mediated defence responses were initiated inside chloroplasts. Genome-wide transcriptional profile analyses were performed as well and the results proved that there were only statistically significant changes in the transcript expression of light-grown ACSC treated with 0.5 µM RB and 500 µM H2O2, but not with IC nor with MV. Functional enrichment analyses revealed that GO/Biological process terms associated with defence responses were common in the treatments with 0.5 µM RB and 500 µM H2O2; however, resistance response to pathogen and PCD terms were only significantly over-represented in the RB treatment. Moreover, the analysis of the up-regulated transcripts in ACSC treated with 0.5 µM RB brought out that both specific markers for singlet oxygen from the conditional fluorescence (flu) mutant of Arabidopsis and transcripts with a key role in hormone-activated PCD (i.e. ethylene and jasmonic acid) were present, although there was no evidence for the up-regulation of EDS1 encoding the ENHANCED DISEASE SUSCEPTIBILITY PROTEIN 1. Finally, a co-regulation analysis proved that ACSC treated with 0.5 µM RB exhibited higher correlation with the flu family mutants than with other singlet oxygen producer mutants of Arabidopsis or wild-type plants of Arabidopsis subjected to high light treatments, where singlet oxygen was produced in photosystem II and an acclimatory response was activated instead of PCD. 18 Samples total. Six Samples are controls, 3 Samples each treated with Rose Bengal, Hydrogen Peroxide, Methyl Violet, and Indigo Carmine.

Project description:Arabidopsis thaliana cell suspension cultures (ACSC) were subjected to 30-min, mild chemical treatments with three different singlet oxygen elicitors at low-medium light conditions (150 µE m–2 s–1) with the aim of getting a better understanding of singlet oxygen-mediated defence responses in plants. The three elicitors Indigo Carmine (IC), Methylene Violet (MV) and Rose Bengal (RB) at a concentration of 0.5 µM were chosen because they exhibited different abilities to permeate the plasma membrane and to accumulate in the cell soma or organelles such as chloroplasts. In addition, ACSC were treated with 500 µM H2O2 for comparison. Confocal image analysis of Arabidopsis cells revealed that IC was not retained in cells, whereas MV and RB permeated the plasma membrane and accumulated in the chloroplast envelope and inside chloroplasts, respectively. As a consequence of their different cellular location, the physiological, transcriptional and photosynthetic responses of Arabidopsis cells to singlet oxygen production varied from each other and the activation of programmed cell death (PCD) was observed in ACSC treated with 0.5 µM RB, but not with the other elicitor nor with 500 µM H2O2. The role of chloroplasts in the activation of PCD was further investigated when this physiological response was analyzed in dark-grown cell cultures containing undifferentiated plastids. Interestingly, PCD was only activated in light-grown, but not in dark-grown, Arabidopsis cell cultures, suggesting that singlet oxygen-mediated defence responses were initiated inside chloroplasts. Genome-wide transcriptional profile analyses were performed as well and the results proved that there were only statistically significant changes in the transcript expression of light-grown ACSC treated with 0.5 µM RB and 500 µM H2O2, but not with IC nor with MV. Functional enrichment analyses revealed that GO/Biological process terms associated with defence responses were common in the treatments with 0.5 µM RB and 500 µM H2O2; however, resistance response to pathogen and PCD terms were only significantly over-represented in the RB treatment. Moreover, the analysis of the up-regulated transcripts in ACSC treated with 0.5 µM RB brought out that both specific markers for singlet oxygen from the conditional fluorescence (flu) mutant of Arabidopsis and transcripts with a key role in hormone-activated PCD (i.e. ethylene and jasmonic acid) were present, although there was no evidence for the up-regulation of EDS1 encoding the ENHANCED DISEASE SUSCEPTIBILITY PROTEIN 1. Finally, a co-regulation analysis proved that ACSC treated with 0.5 µM RB exhibited higher correlation with the flu family mutants than with other singlet oxygen producer mutants of Arabidopsis or wild-type plants of Arabidopsis subjected to high light treatments, where singlet oxygen was produced in photosystem II and an acclimatory response was activated instead of PCD.

Dataset Information

Expression data from thylakoidal ascorbate peroxidase overexpressor Arabidopsis thaliana (Col) rosette leaves

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