Lipid transfer proteins in coffee: isolation of Coffea orthologs, Coffea arabica homeologs, expression during coffee fruit development and promoter analysis in transgenic tobacco plants.

The aim of the present study was to perform a genomic analysis of non-specific lipid-transfer proteins (nsLTPs) in coffee. Several nsLTPs-encoding cDNA and gene sequences were cloned from Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora species. In this work, their analyses revealed that coffee nsLTPs belong to Type II LTP characterized under their mature forms by a molecular weight of around 7.3 kDa, a basic isoelectric points of 8.5 and the presence of typical CXC pattern, with X being an hydrophobic residue facing towards the hydrophobic cavity. Even if several single nucleotide polymorphisms were identified in these nsLTP-coding sequences, 3D predictions showed that they do not have a significant impact on protein functions. Northern blot and RT-qPCR experiments revealed specific expression of Type II nsLTPs-encoding genes in coffee fruits, mainly during the early development of endosperm of both C. arabica and C. canephora. As part of our search for tissue-specific promoters in coffee, an nsLTP promoter region of around 1.2 kb was isolated. It contained several DNA repeats including boxes identified as essential for grain specific expression in other plants. The whole fragment, and a series of 5' deletions, were fused to the reporter gene ß-glucuronidase (uidA) and analyzed in transgenic Nicotiana tabacum plants. Histochemical and fluorimetric GUS assays showed that the shorter (345 bp) and medium (827 bp) fragments of nsLTP promoter function as grain-specific promoters in transgenic tobacco plants.

Differentially expressed genes and proteins upon drought acclimation in tolerant and sensitive genotypes of Coffea canephora.

The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying drought acclimation in coffee plants by the identification of candidate genes (CGs) using different approaches. The first approach used the data generated during the Brazilian Coffee expressed sequence tag (EST) project to select 13 CGs by an in silico analysis (electronic northern). The second approach was based on screening macroarrays spotted with plasmid DNA (coffee ESTs) with separate hybridizations using leaf cDNA probes from drought-tolerant and susceptible clones of Coffea canephora var. Conilon, grown under different water regimes. This allowed the isolation of seven additional CGs. The third approach used two-dimensional gel electrophoresis to identify proteins displaying differential accumulation in leaves of drought-tolerant and susceptible clones of C. canephora. Six of them were characterized by MALDI-TOF-MS/MS (matrix-assisted laser desorption-time of flight-tandem mass spectrometry) and the corresponding proteins were identified. Finally, additional CGs were selected from the literature, and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was performed to analyse the expression of all identified CGs. Altogether, >40 genes presenting differential gene expression during drought acclimation were identified, some of them showing different expression profiles between drought-tolerant and susceptible clones. Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that factors involved a complex network of responses probably involving the abscisic signalling pathway and nitric oxide are major molecular determinants that might explain the better efficiency in controlling stomata closure and transpiration displayed by drought-tolerant clones of C. canephora.

RBCS1 expression in coffee: Coffea orthologs, Coffea arabica homeologs, and expression variability between genotypes and under drought stress.

BACKGROUND: In higher plants, the inhibition of photosynthetic capacity under drought is attributable to stomatal and non-stomatal (i.e., photochemical and biochemical) effects. In particular, a disruption of photosynthetic metabolism and Rubisco regulation can be observed. Several studies reported reduced expression of the RBCS genes, which encode the Rubisco small subunit, under water stress. RESULTS: Expression of the RBCS1 gene was analysed in the allopolyploid context of C. arabica, which originates from a natural cross between the C. canephora and C. eugenioides species. Our study revealed the existence of two homeologous RBCS1 genes in C. arabica: one carried by the C. canephora sub-genome (called CaCc) and the other carried by the C. eugenioides sub-genome (called CaCe). Using specific primer pairs for each homeolog, expression studies revealed that CaCe was expressed in C. eugenioides and C. arabica but was undetectable in C. canephora. On the other hand, CaCc was expressed in C. canephora but almost completely silenced in non-introgressed ("pure") genotypes of C. arabica. However, enhanced CaCc expression was observed in most C. arabica cultivars with introgressed C. canephora genome. In addition, total RBCS1 expression was higher for C. arabica cultivars that had recently introgressed C. canephora genome than for "pure" cultivars. For both species, water stress led to an important decrease in the abundance of RBCS1 transcripts. This was observed for plants grown in either greenhouse or field conditions under severe or moderate drought. However, this reduction of RBCS1 gene expression was not accompanied by a decrease in the corresponding protein in the leaves of C. canephora subjected to water withdrawal. In that case, the amount of RBCS1 was even higher under drought than under unstressed (irrigated) conditions, which suggests great stability of RBCS1 under adverse water conditions. On the other hand, for C. arabica, high nocturnal expression of RBCS1 could also explain the accumulation of the RBCS1 protein under water stress. Altogether, the results presented here suggest that the content of RBCS was not responsible for the loss of photosynthetic capacity that is commonly observed in water-stressed coffee plants. CONCLUSION: We showed that the CaCe homeolog was expressed in C. eugenioides and non-introgressed ("pure") genotypes of C. arabica but that it was undetectable in C. canephora. On the other hand, the CaCc homeolog was expressed in C. canephora but highly repressed in C. arabica. Expression of the CaCc homeolog was enhanced in C. arabica cultivars that experienced recent introgression with C. canephora. For both C. canephora and C. arabica species, total RBCS1 gene expression was highly reduced with WS. Unexpectedly, the accumulation of RBCS1 protein was observed in the leaves of C. canephora under WS, possibly coming from nocturnal RBCS1 expression. These results suggest that the increase in the amount of RBCS1 protein could contribute to the antioxidative function of photorespiration in water-stressed coffee plants.