Home About us Contact | |||
Antisense Lines (antisense + line)
Selected AbstractsNtKTI1, a Kunitz trypsin inhibitor with antifungal activity from Nicotiana tabacum, plays an important role in tobacco's defense responseFEBS JOURNAL, Issue 19 2010Hao Huang A cDNA library from tobacco inoculated with Rhizoctonia solani was constructed, and several cDNA fragments were identified by differential hybridization screening. One cDNA clone that was dramatically repressed, NtKTI1, was confirmed as a member of the Kunitz plant proteinase inhibitor family. RT-PCR analysis revealed that NtKTI1 was constitutively expressed throughout the whole plant and preferentially expressed in the roots and stems. Furthermore, RT-PCR analysis showed that NtKTI1 expression was repressed after R. solani inoculation, mechanical wounding and salicylic acid treatment, but was unaffected by methyl jasmonate, abscisic acid and NaCl treatment. In vitro assays showed that NtKTI1 exerted prominent antifungal activity towards R. solani and moderate antifungal activity against Rhizopus nigricans and Phytophthora parasitica var. nicotianae. Bioassays of transgenic tobacco demonstrated that overexpression of NtKTI1 enhanced significantly the resistance of tobacco against R. solani, and the antisense lines exhibited higher susceptibility than control lines towards the phytopathogen. Taken together, these studies suggest that NtKTI1 may be a functional Kunitz trypsin inhibitor with antifungal activity against several important phytopathogens in the tobacco defense response. [source] The cyclic nucleotide-gated channel, AtCNGC10, influences salt tolerance in ArabidopsisPHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM, Issue 3 2008Kun-Mei Guo Cyclic nucleotide-gated channels (CNGCs) in the plasma membrane transport K+ and other cations; however, their roles in the response and adaptation of plants to environmental salinity are unclear. Growth, cation contents, salt tolerance and K+ fluxes were assessed in wild-type and two AtCNGC10 antisense lines (A2 and A3) of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. Compared with the wild-type, mature plants of both antisense lines had altered K+ and Na+ concentrations in shoots and were more sensitive to salt stress, as assessed by biomass and Chl fluorescence. The shoots of A2 and A3 plants contained higher Na+ concentrations and significantly higher Na+/K+ ratios compared with wild-type, whereas roots contained higher K+ concentrations and lower Na+/K+ ratios. Four-day-old seedlings of both antisense lines exposed to salt stress had smaller Na+/K+ ratios and longer roots than the wild-type. Under sudden salt treatment, the Na+ efflux was higher and the K+ efflux was smaller in the antisense lines, indicating that AtCNGC10 might function as a channel providing Na+ influx and K+ efflux at the root/soil interface. We conclude that the AtCNGC10 channel is involved in Na+ and K+ transport during cation uptake in roots and in long-distance transport, such as phloem loading and/or xylem retrieval. Mature A2 and A3 plants became more salt sensitive than wild-type plants because of impaired photosynthesis induced by a higher Na+ concentration in the leaves. [source] SlCCD7 controls strigolactone biosynthesis, shoot branching and mycorrhiza-induced apocarotenoid formation in tomatoTHE PLANT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2010Jonathan T. Vogel Summary The regulation of shoot branching is an essential determinant of plant architecture, integrating multiple external and internal signals. One of the signaling pathways regulating branching involves the MAX (more axillary branches) genes. Two of the genes within this pathway, MAX3/CCD7 and MAX4/CCD8, encode carotenoid cleavage enzymes involved in generating a branch-inhibiting hormone, recently identified as strigolactone. Here, we report the cloning of SlCCD7 from tomato. As in other species, SlCCD7 encodes an enzyme capable of cleaving cyclic and acyclic carotenoids. However, the SlCCD7 protein has 30 additional amino acids of unknown function at its C terminus. Tomato plants expressing a SlCCD7 antisense construct display greatly increased branching. To reveal the underlying changes of this strong physiological phenotype, a metabolomic screen was conducted. With the exception of a reduction of stem amino acid content in the transgenic lines, no major changes were observed. In contrast, targeted analysis of the same plants revealed significantly decreased levels of strigolactone. There were no significant changes in root carotenoids, indicating that relatively little substrate is required to produce the bioactive strigolactones. The germination rate of Orobanche ramosa seeds was reduced by up to 90% on application of extract from the SlCCD7 antisense lines, compared with the wild type. Additionally, upon mycorrhizal colonization, C13 cyclohexenone and C14 mycorradicin apocarotenoid levels were greatly reduced in the roots of the antisense lines, implicating SlCCD7 in their biosynthesis. This work demonstrates the diverse roles of MAX3/CCD7 in strigolactone production, shoot branching, source,sink interactions and production of arbuscular mycorrhiza-induced apocarotenoids. [source] Over-expression of TGA5, which encodes a bZIP transcription factor that interacts with NIM1/NPR1, confers SAR-independent resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana to Peronospora parasiticaTHE PLANT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2002Han Suk Kim Summary The Arabidopsis thaliana NIM1/NPR1 gene product is required for induction of systemic acquired resistance (SAR) by pathogens, salicylic acid (SA) or synthetic SA analogs. We identified, in a yeast two-hybrid screen, two NIM1/NPR1 interacting proteins, TGA2 and TGA5, which belong to the basic region, leucine zipper (bZIP) family of transcription factors. Both TGA2 and TGA5 strongly interact with NIM1/NPR1 in yeast and in vitro, and recognize the as-1 cis element found within the promoter of several pathogenesis-related genes, such as PR-1. To determine the role TGA2 and TGA5 may play in NIM1/NPR1-mediated disease resistance, we introduced sense and antisense versions of both genes into transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Characterization of TGA2 transgenic plants revealed that inhibition or overexpression of TGA2 does not significantly affect PR-1 expression or induction of SAR after pathogen infection or INA treatment. Surprisingly, all TGA5 -antisense transgenic plants produced showed increased accumulation of TGA5 transcripts compared with untransformed control plants, while the TGA5 -sense lines showed no significant increase in TGA5 mRNA levels. Interestingly, the high level of TGA5 mRNA in the antisense lines was accompanied by significant resistance to a highly virulent isolate of the oomycete pathogen Peronospora parasitica. Further, resistance was not coupled to accumulation of products from the SAR-linked PR-1 gene following inoculation with P. parasitica or treatment with INA, indicating that these plants express a robust, PR-1 -independent resistance mechanism. Resistance was retained when a TGA5 -accumulating line was combined genetically with a nim1-1 mutation or nahG (salicylate hydroxylase) transgene, indicating that resistance in these plants is due to an SA and SAR-independent mechanism. [source] |