Project description:We used the flu mutant of Arabidopsis and a transgenic line that overexpresses the thylakoid-bound ascorbate peroxidase (tAPX) to address the interactions between different reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling pathways. The conditional flu mutant of Arabidopsis accumulates excess protochlorophyllide in the dark within chloroplast membranes that upon illumination acts as a photosensitizer and generates singlet oxygen (1O2). Immediately after the release of singlet oxygen rapid changes in nuclear gene expression occur. Distinct sets of genes were activated that were different from those induced by other reactive oxygen species, superoxide or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), suggesting that different types of active oxygen species activate distinct signaling pathways. It was not known whether the pathways operate separately or interact with each other. We have addressed this problem by modulating noninvasively the level of H2O2 in plastids by means of a transgenic line that overexpresses the thylakoid-bound ascorbate peroxidase (tAPX, line 14/2 PMID: 15165186). In the flu mutant overexpressing tAPX, the expression of most of the nuclear genes that were rapidly activated after the release of 1O2 was significantly higher in flu plants overexpressing tAPX, whereas in wild-type plants, overexpression of tAPX had only a very minor impact on nuclear gene expression. The results suggest that H2O2 antagonizes the 1O2-mediated signaling of stress responses as seen in the flu mutant. This cross-talk between H2O2- and 1O2-dependent signaling pathways might contribute to the overall stability and robustness of wild-type plants exposed to adverse environmental stress conditions. Keywords: Single time point comparison
Project description:To comprehensively investigate the effects of glutathione on the gene expression, the microarray analysis was performed in the glutathione-fed wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana. Wild-type Arabidopsis (ecotype Columbia-0) were fed with 1 mM oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and 2 mM reduced glutathione (GSH) for comparison at equal nitrogen equivalents. To examine the effects of glutathione other than nitrogen at equal nitrogen equivalents, plants were fed with 3 mM NH4NO3. Plants grown by water were used as a control.
Project description:In plants, reactive oxygen species and, more particularly, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) play a dual role as toxic by-products of normal cell metabolism and as regulatory molecules in stress perception and signal transduction. Peroxisomal catalases are an important sink for photorespiratory H2O2. Using ATH1 Affymetrix microarrays, expression profiles were compared between control and catalase-deficient Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants. Reduced catalase levels already provoked differences in nuclear gene expression under ambient growth conditions, and these effects were amplified by high light exposure in a sun simulator for 3 and 8 h. This genome-wide expression analysis allowed us to reveal the expression characteristics of complete pathways and functional categories during H2O2 stress. In total, 349 transcripts were significantly up-regulated by high light in catalase-deficient plants and 88 were down-regulated. From this data set, H2O2 was inferred to play a key role in the transcriptional up-regulation of small heat shock proteins during high light stress. In addition, several transcription factors and candidate regulatory genes involved in H2O2 transcriptional gene networks were identified. Comparisons with other publicly available transcriptome data sets of abiotically stressed Arabidopsis revealed an important intersection with H2O2-deregulated genes, positioning elevated H2O2 levels as an important signal within abiotic stress-induced gene expression. Finally, analysis of transcriptional changes in a combination of a genetic (catalase deficiency) and an environmental (high light) perturbation identified a transcriptional cluster that was strongly and rapidly induced by high light in control plants, but impaired in catalase-deficient plants. This cluster comprises the complete known anthocyanin regulatory and biosynthetic pathway, together with genes of hitherto unknown function.