Physiological roles of Casparian strips and suberin in the transport of water and solutes.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Calvo-Polanco M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9298204 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Casparian strips (CSs) are cell wall modifications of vascular plants restricting extracellular free diffusion into and out of the vascular system [1]. This barrier plays a critical role in controlling the acquisition of nutrients and water necessary for normal plant development [2-5]. CSs are formed by the precise deposition of a band of lignin approximately 2 μm wide and 150 nm thick spanning the apoplastic space between adjacent endodermal cells [6, 7]. Here, we identified a copper-containing protein, Uclacyanin1 (UCC1), that is sub-compartmentalized within the CS. UCC1 forms a central CS nanodomain in comparison with other CS-located proteins that are found to be mainly accumulated at the periphery of the CS. We found that loss-of-function of two uclacyanins (UCC1 and UCC2) reduces lignification specifically in this central CS nanodomain, revealing a nano-compartmentalized machinery for lignin polymerization. This loss of lignification leads to increased endodermal permeability and, consequently, to a loss of mineral nutrient homeostasis.
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Project description:The semipermeable capillary walls not only enable the removal of excess body water and solutes during hemodialysis (HD) but also provide an essential mechanism for maintaining cardiovascular homeostasis. Here, we investigated transcapillary transport processes on the whole-body level using the three-pore model of the capillary endothelium with large, small and ultrasmall pores. The transcapillary transport and cardiovascular response to a 4-h hemodialysis (HD) with 2 L ultrafiltration were analyzed by simulations in a virtual patient using the three-pore model of the capillary wall integrated in the whole-body compartmental model of the cardiovascular system with baroreflex mechanisms. The three-pore model revealed substantial changes during HD in the magnitude and direction of transcapillary water flows through small and ultrasmall pores and associated changes in the transcapillary convective transport of proteins and small solutes. The fraction of total capillary hydraulic conductivity attributed to ultrasmall pores was found to play an important role in the transcapillary water transport during HD thus influencing the cardiovascular response to HD. The presented model provides a novel computational framework for a detailed analysis of microvascular exchange during HD and as such may contribute to a better understanding of dialysis-induced changes in blood volume and blood pressure.
| S-EPMC7603324 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Casparian strips are ring-like cell-wall modifications in the root endodermis of vascular plants. Their presence generates a paracellular barrier, analogous to animal tight junctions, that is thought to be crucial for selective nutrient uptake, exclusion of pathogens, and many other processes. Despite their importance, the chemical nature of Casparian strips has remained a matter of debate, confounding further molecular analysis. Suberin, lignin, lignin-like polymers, or both, have been claimed to make up Casparian strips. Here we show that, in Arabidopsis, suberin is produced much too late to take part in Casparian strip formation. In addition, we have generated plants devoid of any detectable suberin, which still establish functional Casparian strips. In contrast, manipulating lignin biosynthesis abrogates Casparian strip formation. Finally, monolignol feeding and lignin-specific chemical analysis indicates the presence of archetypal lignin in Casparian strips. Our findings establish the chemical nature of the primary root-diffusion barrier in Arabidopsis and enable a mechanistic dissection of the formation of Casparian strips, which are an independent way of generating tight junctions in eukaryotes.
| S-EPMC3382560 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Casparian strips are ring-like structures consisting of lignin, sealing the apoplastic space between endodermal cells. They are thought to have important functions in controlling radial transport of nutrients and toxic elements in roots. However, Arabidopsis mutants with a defective Casparian strip structure have been found to maintain nutrient homeostasis in ranges supportive of growth under standard laboratory conditions. In this study, we investigated the function of Casparian strips under excess boron (B) conditions using sgn3 and sgn4 mutants with defective Casparian strip development but which do not exhibit excessive deposition of suberin, another endodermal diffusion barrier. The growth of sgn3 and sgn4 mutants did not differ significantly from that of wild-type (WT) plants under different B conditions in plate cultures; however, they were highly sensitive to B excess in hydroponic culture, where transpiration drives the translocation of boric acid toward the shoot. In hydroponic culture with sufficient to excess boric acid, B accumulation in shoots of the sgn3 and sgn4 mutants was higher than that in the WT. A time-course tracer study using 10B-enriched boric acid at a sufficient or slightly excessive concentration showed higher translocation of B into shoots of the sgn3 and sgn4 mutants. Furthermore, a genetically encoded biosensor for boric acid expressed under a stele-specific promoter (proCIF2:NIP5;1 5'UTR : Eluc-PEST) visualized faster boric acid flux into the mutant steles. Collectively, our results demonstrate the importance of Casparian strips in preventing apoplastic diffusion of boric acid into the stele under excess supply.
| S-EPMC10755862 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Suberin is a cell-wall-associated hetero-polymer deposited in specific plant tissues. The precise role of its composition and lamellae structure in protecting plants against abiotic stresses is unclear. In Arabidopsis thaliana, we tested the biochemical and physiological responses to water deficiency and NaCl treatment in mutants that are differentially affected in suberin composition and lamellae structure. Chronic drought stress increased suberin and suberin-associated waxes in wild-type plants. Suberin-deficient mutants were not more susceptible than the wild-type to the chronic drought stress imposed in this study. Nonetheless, the cyp86a1-1 cyp86b1-1 mutant, which had a severely altered suberin composition and lamellae structure, exhibited increased water loss through the root periderm. Cyp86a1-1 cyp86b1-1 also recorded lower relative water content in leaves. The abcg2-1 abcg6-1 abcg20-1 mutant, which has altered suberin composition and lamellae, was very sensitive to NaCl treatment. Furthermore, cyp86a1-1 cyp86b1-1 recorded a significant drop in the leaf K/Na ratio, indicating salt sensitivity. The far1-2 far4-1 far5-1 mutant, which did not show structural defects in the suberin lamellae, had similar responses to drought and NaCl treatments as the wild-type. Our results provide evidence that the suberin amount and lamellae structure are key features in the barrier function of suberin in reducing water loss and reducing sodium uptake through roots for better performance under drought and salt stresses.
| S-EPMC8618449 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Organic (e.g., sugars and amino acids) and inorganic (e.g., K?, Na?, PO?2-, and SO?2-) solutes are transported long-distance throughout plants. Lateral movement of these compounds between the xylem and the phloem, and vice versa, has also been reported in several plant species since the 1930s, and is believed to be important in the overall resource allocation. Studies of Arabidopsis thaliana have provided us with a better knowledge of the anatomical framework in which the lateral transport takes place, and have highlighted the role of specialized vascular and perivascular cells as an interface for solute exchanges. Important breakthroughs have also been made, mainly in Arabidopsis, in identifying some of the proteins involved in the cell-to-cell translocation of solutes, most notably a range of plasma membrane transporters that act in different cell types. Finally, in the future, state-of-art imaging techniques should help to better characterize the lateral transport of these compounds on a cellular level. This review brings the lateral transport of sugars and inorganic solutes back into focus and highlights its importance in terms of our overall understanding of plant resource allocation.
| S-EPMC6358943 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background and aimsRoot absorptive characteristics rely on the presence of apoplastic barriers. However, little is known about the establishment of these barriers within a complex root system, particularly in a major portion of them - the lateral roots. In Zea mays L., the exodermis differentiates under the influence of growth conditions. Therefore, the species presents a suitable model to elucidate the cross-talk among environmental conditions, branching pattern and the maturation of barriers within a complex root system involved in the definition of the plant-soil interface. The study describes the extent to which lateral roots differentiate apoplastic barriers in response to changeable environmental conditions.MethodsThe branching, permeability of the outer cell layers and differentiation of the endo- and exodermis were studied in primary roots and various laterals under different types of stress of agronomic importance (salinity, heavy metal toxicity, hypoxia, etc.). Histochemical methods, image analysis and apoplastic tracer assays were utilized.Key resultsThe results show that the impact of growth conditions on the differentiation of both the endodermis and exodermis is modulated according to the type/diameter of the root. Fine laterals clearly represent that portion of a complex root system with a less advanced state of barrier differentiation, but with substantial ability to modify exodermis differentiation in response to environmental conditions. In addition, some degree of autonomy in exodermal establishment of Casparian bands (CBs) vs. suberin lamellae (SLs) was observed, as the absence of lignified exodermal CBs did not always fit with the lack of SLs.ConclusionsThis study highlights the importance of lateral roots, and provides a first look into the developmental variations of apoplastic barriers within a complex root system. It emphasizes that branching and differentiation of barriers in fine laterals may substantially modulate the root system-rhizosphere interaction.
| S-EPMC5737840 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Many important biological solutes possess not only polar and hydrogen bonding functionalities, but also weakly-hydrating, or hydrophobic, surfaces. Theories of the hydration of such surfaces predict that their solvent interactions will change from a wetting type interaction to a dewetting regime as a function of the solute size, with a gradual transition in behavior taking place around characteristic lengths of ∼1 nm. Aggregations of non-polar species over this size range will undergo a transition from being dominated by entropy to being dominated by enthalpy. These transitions can be understood in part in terms of the geometries required of the solvating water molecules. We report here a series of simulations in aqueous solution of organic molecules with planar faces of increasing size, ranging from cyclopropane to circumcircumcoronene, in order to explore the transition in behavior for such solutes as their size increases. For this series, the dewetting transition occurred gradually, converging asymptotically to a limiting separation value for first layer water molecules of around 3.3 Å, while the transition in hydrogen bonding orientational structure occurred between cyclopropane and cyclopentadene. Water immediately adjacent to the largest planar hydrophobic surfaces oriented in ways that resembled on average the structural organization of the basal planes of ice.
| S-EPMC5538563 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Plant roots acquire nutrients and water while managing interactions with the soil microbiota. The root endodermis provides an extracellular diffusion barrier through a network of lignified cell walls called Casparian strips, supported by subsequent formation of suberin lamellae. Whereas lignification is thought to be irreversible, suberin lamellae display plasticity, which is crucial for root adaptative responses. Although suberin is a major plant polymer, fundamental aspects of its biosynthesis and turnover have remained obscure. Plants shape their root system via lateral root formation, an auxin-induced process requiring local breaking and re-sealing of endodermal lignin and suberin barriers. Here, we show that differentiated endodermal cells have a specific, auxin-mediated transcriptional response dominated by cell wall remodelling genes. We identified two sets of auxin-regulated GDSL lipases. One is required for suberin synthesis, while the other can drive suberin degradation. These enzymes have key roles in suberization, driving root suberin plasticity.
| S-EPMC7610369 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The bacterial outer-membrane vitamin B(12) transporter, BtuB, undergoes a dramatic order-to-disorder transition in its N-terminal energy-coupling motif (Ton box) upon substrate binding. Here, site-directed spin labeling (SDSL) is used to show that a range of solutes prevents this conformational change when ligand is bound to BtuB, resulting in a more ordered Ton box structure. For each solute examined, the data indicate that solutes effectively block this conformational transition through an osmotic mechanism. The molecular weight dependence of this solute effect has been examined for a series of polyethylene glycols, and a sharp molecular weight cutoff is observed. This cutoff indicates that solutes are preferentially excluded from a cavity within the protein as well as the protein surface. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the conformational change to solution osmolality is consistent with a structural model predicted by SDSL. When the Ton box is unfolded by detergents or mutations (rather than by ligand binding), solutes, such as polyethylene glycols and salts, also induce a more structured compacted conformation. These results suggest that conformational changes in this class of outer membrane transporters, which involve modest energy differences and changes in hydration, may be modulated by a range of solutes, including solutes typically used in protein crystallization.
| S-EPMC1414566 | biostudies-literature