Project description:To cope with limiting phosphorus (P) availability, plants have evolved a series of mechanisms to recycle internal P sources and to acquire P from the soil. One of these mechanisms is the release of low-molecular weight carboxylates, such as malate, which helps to liberate phosphate desorbed to aluminum and iron oxides. As malate release into the rhizosphere and root apopplast also increases iron availability. To identity genes involved in this interaction, we investigated time-dependent changes in the transcriptome of Arabidopsis thaliana roots exposed to sufficient and deficient phoshate levels .
Project description:ABA and calcium both function as central signals in developmental programs and environmental responses. Little is known about the way how both messengers functionally interact. Here we report that stress induced calcium signatures are essential and likely sufficient for inducing ABA accumulation in roots. Moreover, we show that calcium activated calcium sensor/kinase complexes directly phosphorylate and activate ABA responsive transcription factors. Our results reveal a molecular mechanism that allows for integrating, fine tuning and termination of hormonal and calcium signaling on the level of gene transcription.
Project description:Calcium has been shown to be an important signalling molecule in the transduction of abiotic stress signals in Arabidopsis thaliana. Alteration of the calcium signature through the use of inhibitors has been shown to result in changes in the expression of certain downstream abiotic stress-induced genes. However, the communication of this signal through specific calcium-sensitive intermediate molecules has remained poorly elucidated. Various candidate molecules exist and including calcinurin, calcium-dependent protein kinases and calmodulin. Recently, a screen of an Arabidopsis thaliana cDNA expression library with calmodulin resulted in the isolation of the protein designated calmodulin-binding transcriptional activator or AtCAMTA that may function as one of these calcium-sensitive intermediate molecules. The Arabidopsis genome contains six CAMTA genes (AtCAMTA1-6), all of which are expressed in varying tissues throughout development. AtCAMTA1 was shown to function as a transcriptional activator through the expression of a chimeric protein consisting of the bacteria LexA protein fused to various segments of AtCAMTA expressed in yeast. In order to identify putative target genes of AtCAMTA1 in Arabidopsis we plan to analyse the transcriptome of AtCAMTA1 loss-of-function mutants. The gene expression pattern of two previously characterised alleles of AtCAMTA1 will be compared to wild type. Experimenter name = Sarah Scrase-Field; Experimenter phone = 01865 275062; Experimenter fax = 01865 275074; Experimenter department = University of Oxford; Experimenter address = Department of Plants Sciences; Experimenter address = University of Oxford; Experimenter address = South Parks Road; Experimenter address = Oxford; Experimenter zip/postal_code = OX1 3RB; Experimenter country = UK Experiment Overall Design: 4 samples were used in this experiment