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Calmodulin binds to extracellular sites on the plasma membrane of plant cells and elicits a rise in intracellular calcium concentration.

ABSTRACT: Calmodulin (CaM) is a highly conserved intracellular calcium sensor. In plants, CaM also appears to be present in the apoplasm, and application of exogenous CaM has been shown to influence a number of physiological functions as a polypeptide signal; however, the existence and localization of its corresponding apoplasmic binding sites remain controversial. To identify the site(s) of action, a CaM-conjugated quantum dot (QD) system was employed for single molecule level detection at the surface of plant cells. Using this approach, we show that QD-CaM binds selectively to sites on the outer surface of the plasma membrane, which was further confirmed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy. Measurements of Ca(2+) fluxes across the plasma membrane, using ion-selective microelectrodes, demonstrated that exogenous CaM induces a net influx into protoplasts. Consistent with these flux studies, calcium-green-dextran and FRET experiments confirmed that applied CaM/QD-CaM elicited an increase in cytoplasmic Ca(2+) levels. These results support the hypothesis that apoplasmic CaM can act as a signaling agent. These findings are discussed in terms of CaM acting as an apoplasmic peptide ligand to mediate transmembrane signaling in the plant kingdom.

SUBMITTER: Wang Q

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2673269 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Calmodulin binds to extracellular sites on the plasma membrane of plant cells and elicits a rise in intracellular calcium concentration.

Wang Qinli Q Chen Bo B Liu Peng P Zheng Maozhong M Wang Yuqing Y Cui Sujuan S Sun Daye D Fang Xiaohong X Liu Chun-Ming CM Lucas William J WJ Lin Jinxing J

The Journal of biological chemistry 20090302 18

Calmodulin (CaM) is a highly conserved intracellular calcium sensor. In plants, CaM also appears to be present in the apoplasm, and application of exogenous CaM has been shown to influence a number of physiological functions as a polypeptide signal; however, the existence and localization of its corresponding apoplasmic binding sites remain controversial. To identify the site(s) of action, a CaM-conjugated quantum dot (QD) system was employed for single molecule level detection at the surface of ...[more]

PMID: 19254956

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Project description:Screening of cDNA expression libraries with labelled calmodulin (CaM) as a probe resulted in the isolation of cDNA encoding proteins designated CAMTA (for calmodulin-binding transcription activators). The Arabidopsis genome contains 6 members of this protein family (AtCAMTA1-6) all containing in addition to a defined CaM-binding domain a DNA-binding domain and ankyrin-repeat motifs. RT-PCR analysis revealed that all 6 genes are expressed in all organ throughout plant development. Therefore functional regulation of AtCAMTA proteins is likely mediated by second messengers (e.g. calcium/calmodulin signalling) and protein levels rather than by or in addition to gene expression levels. Based on domain organisation and sequence homologies we identified putative members of this protein family in C. elegans and in human. A yeast system was used to express chimeric fusion proteins comprised of the DNA-binding domain of the bacterial LexA protein with various segments of AtCAMTA1. This analysis revealed a distinct domain of AtCAMTA1 capable of activating transcription. Similar results were obtained with two human CAMTA homologues. To identify the gene targets of CAMTA proteins in Arabidopsiswe plan to analyse the transcriptome in loss_of_function and gain_of_function AtCAMTA mutants. For this we have already isolated a T-DNA insertion mutant of AtCAMTA1 (two alleles) and have requested two other insertion mutants of AtCAMTA2 and AtCAMTA3 identified in other labs. Screening for insertion mutants in the three remaining genes is underway. In addition we have initiated a gain_of_function approach in which DL10 proteins are expressed under the control of the dexamethasone-inducible promoter. Genes whose expression will be found modulated in the mutant plants will be considered candidate targets of AtCAMTA proteins. This analysis will complement an in vitro study of DNA-protein interactions to identify target-binding sites (part of the BBSRC funded project). As a first step in the project proposed to GARNet we suggest to compare the transcriptome in WT whole plants (2 weeks old) with that of three T-DNA insertion AtCAMTA mutants and one line expressing AtCAMTA1 under the control of an inducible promoter. Keywords: strain_or_line_design

Dataset Information

Calmodulin binds to extracellular sites on the plasma membrane of plant cells and elicits a rise in intracellular calcium concentration.

Publications

Calmodulin binds to extracellular sites on the plasma membrane of plant cells and elicits a rise in intracellular calcium concentration.

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