Project description:Cysteine occupies a central position in plant metabolism due to its biochemical functions. Arabidopsis thaliana cells contain different O-acetylserine(thiol)lyase (OASTL) enzymes that catalyze the biosynthesis of cysteine. Because they are localized in the cytosol, plastids and mitochondria, this results in multiple subcellular cysteine pools. Much progress has been made on the most abundant OASTL enzymes; however, information on the less abundant OASTL-like proteins has been scarce. To unequivocally establish the enzymatic reaction catalyzed by the minor cytosolic OASTL isoform CS-LIKE (AT5G28030), we expressed this enzyme in bacteria and characterized the purified recombinant protein. Our results demonstrate that CS-LIKE catalyzes the desulfuration of L-cysteine to sulfide plus ammonia and pyruvate. Thus, CS-LIKE is a novel L-cysteine desulfhydrase (EC 4.4.1.1), and we propose to designate it DES1. The impact and functionality of DES1 in cysteine metabolism was revealed by the phenotype of the T-DNA insertion mutants des1-1 and des1-2. Mutation of the DES1 gene leads to premature leaf senescence, as demonstrated by the increased expression of senescence-associated genes and transcription factors. Also, the absence of DES1 significantly reduces the total cysteine desulfuration activity in leaves, and there is a concomitant increase in the total cysteine content. As a consequence, the expression levels of sulfur-responsive genes are de-regulated, and the mutant plants show enhanced antioxidant defenses and tolerance to conditions that promote oxidative stress. Our results suggest that DES1 from Arabidopsis is an L-cysteine desulfhydrase involved in maintaining cysteine homeostasis, mainly at late developmental stages or under environmental perturbations.
Project description:Cysteine occupies a central position in plant metabolism due to its biochemical functions. Arabidopsis thaliana cells contain different O-acetylserine(thiol)lyase (OASTL) enzymes that catalyze the biosynthesis of cysteine. Because they are localized in the cytosol, plastids and mitochondria, this results in multiple subcellular cysteine pools. Much progress has been made on the most abundant OASTL enzymes; however, information on the less abundant OASTL-like proteins has been scarce. To unequivocally establish the enzymatic reaction catalyzed by the minor cytosolic OASTL isoform CS-LIKE (AT5G28030), we expressed this enzyme in bacteria and characterized the purified recombinant protein. Our results demonstrate that CS-LIKE catalyzes the desulfuration of L-cysteine to sulfide plus ammonia and pyruvate. Thus, CS-LIKE is a novel L-cysteine desulfhydrase (EC 4.4.1.1), and we propose to designate it DES1. The impact and functionality of DES1 in cysteine metabolism was revealed by the phenotype of the T-DNA insertion mutants des1-1 and des1-2. Mutation of the DES1 gene leads to premature leaf senescence, as demonstrated by the increased expression of senescence-associated genes and transcription factors. Also, the absence of DES1 significantly reduces the total cysteine desulfuration activity in leaves, and there is a concomitant increase in the total cysteine content. As a consequence, the expression levels of sulfur-responsive genes are de-regulated, and the mutant plants show enhanced antioxidant defenses and tolerance to conditions that promote oxidative stress. Our results suggest that DES1 from Arabidopsis is an L-cysteine desulfhydrase involved in maintaining cysteine homeostasis, mainly at late developmental stages or under environmental perturbations. Using the Affymetrix ATH1 GeneChips, we performed a comparative transcriptomic analysis on leaves of the des1-1 and wild type plants grown on soil for three weeks. Three biological replicates were performed for each sample and hybridized to the chips. We made the comparison of des1-1 leaves versus wild-type leaves to classify the differently expressed genes in the mutant plant.
Project description:Plant microRNAs undergo stepwise-nuclear maturation before engaging cytosolic sequence-complementary transcripts in association with the silencing-effector protein ARGONAUTE1(AGO1). How plant miRNAs translocate to the cytosol remains mysterious as does their cellular loading site(s) into AGO1. Here, we show that the N-termini of plant AGO1s contain a nuclear-localization (NLS) and nuclear-export signal (NES), which, in Arabidopsis thaliana (At) enables AtAGO1 nucleo-cytosolic shuttling in a Leptomycin-B-inhibited manner, diagnostic of CRM1(Expo1)/NES-dependent nuclear export. Nuclear-only AtAGO1 contains the same 2’O-methylated miRNA cohort as its nucleo-cytosolic counterpart, but specifically interacts with the miRNA loading-chaperone HSP90. AtAGO1 nucleo-cytosolic shuttling is required for mature miRNA translocation and for miRNA-mediated silencing. We propose that plant miRNAs are matured, methylated, loaded into AGO1 in the nucleus, and exported cytoplasmically as AGO1:miRNA complexes in a CRM1(Expo1)/NES-dependent manner.
Project description:We examined the changes in gene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana grown under arsenate stress. The transcriptional profiling reveals antioxidant activity and repression of the phosphate starvation response. Keywords: dual label, stress response
Project description:Photosynthesis is arguably the most important biological process on earth. In plants, energy harvested in photosynthesis is converted into sugar and starch, which are important products from species with agronomic interest. During the photosynthesis in the chloroplast, the intermediate carbon metabolites (triose phosphates) produced by the Calvin cycle can either be exported to the cytosol for sucrose synthesis or stay in the chloroplast for starch synthesis (formation). Two fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase) enzymes, the chloroplastidial (cpFBPaseI) and the cytosolic (cyFBPase) isoforms, catalyse the first irreversible step during the conversion of triose phosphate to starch or sucrose, respectively. Recently, another cpFBPase isoform (cpFBPaseII) with unknown function was identified. It has been reported that the reduction of cyFBPase or cpFBPaseI activity leads to an alteration in starch and sucrose content. In our laboratory, Arabidopsis thaliana knock-out mutants for the cyFBPase and cpFBPaseI are now available. The objective this research project is to identify and functionally characterize genes differentially expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana knock-out mutants lacking FBPase genes. We make use of high throughput methodologies, such as the transcriptomic and proteomic analyses which represent invaluable tools to identify new loci responsible for agronomically important traits.
Project description:Photosynthesis is arguably the most important biological process on earth. In plants, energy harvested in photosynthesis is converted into sugar and starch, which are important products from species with agronomic interest. During the photosynthesis in the chloroplast, the intermediate carbon metabolites (triose phosphates) produced by the Calvin cycle can either be exported to the cytosol for sucrose synthesis or stay in the chloroplast for starch synthesis (formation). Two fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase) enzymes, the chloroplastidial (cpFBPaseI) and the cytosolic (cyFBPase) isoforms, catalyse the first irreversible step during the conversion of triose phosphate to starch or sucrose, respectively. Recently, another cpFBPase isoform (cpFBPaseII) with unknown function was identified. It has been reported that the reduction of cyFBPase or cpFBPaseI activity leads to an alteration in starch and sucrose content. In our laboratory, Arabidopsis thaliana knock-out mutants for the cyFBPase and cpFBPaseI are now available. The objective this research project is to identify and functionally characterize genes differentially expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana knock-out mutants lacking FBPase genes. We make use of high throughput methodologies, such as the transcriptomic and proteomic analyses which represent invaluable tools to identify new loci responsible for agronomically important traits. Three independent biological replicates were used for each type of sample. Three hybridizations were performed, representing the three independent biological replicates, being one of them a dye swap
Project description:We examined the changes in gene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana grown under arsenate stress. The transcriptional profiling reveals antioxidant activity and repression of the phosphate starvation response. Keywords: dual label, stress response This experiment included a comparison of three biological replicate controls against three biological arsenate-stressed replicates with a dye-swap technical replicate for a total of six microarray slide hybridizations.