Functional and regulatory conservation of the soybean ER stress-induced DCD/NRP-mediated cell death signaling in plants.

BACKGROUND: The developmental and cell death domain (DCD)-containing asparagine-rich proteins (NRPs) were first identified in soybean (Glycine max) as transducers of a cell death signal derived from prolonged endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, osmotic stress, drought or developmentally-programmed leaf senescence via the GmNAC81/GmNAC30/GmVPE signaling module. In spite of the relevance of the DCD/NRP-mediated signaling as a versatile adaptive response to multiple stresses, mechanistic knowledge of the pathway is lacking and the extent to which this pathway may operate in the plant kingdom has not been investigated. RESULTS: Here, we demonstrated that the DCD/NRP-mediated signaling also propagates a stress-induced cell death signal in other plant species with features of a programmed cell death (PCD) response. In silico analysis revealed that several plant genomes harbor conserved sequences of the pathway components, which share functional analogy with their soybean counterparts. We showed that GmNRPs, GmNAC81and VPE orthologs from Arabidopsis, designated as AtNRP-1, AtNRP-2, ANAC036 and gVPE, respectively, induced cell death when transiently expressed in N. benthamiana leaves. In addition, loss of AtNRP1 and AtNRP2 function attenuated ER stress-induced cell death in Arabidopsis, which was in marked contrast with the enhanced cell death phenotype displayed by overexpressing lines as compared to Col-0. Furthermore, atnrp-1 knockout mutants displayed enhanced sensitivity to PEG-induced osmotic stress, a phenotype that could be complemented with ectopic expression of either GmNRP-A or GmNRP-B. In addition, AtNRPs, ANAC036 and gVPE were induced by osmotic and ER stress to an extent that was modulated by the ER-resident molecular chaperone binding protein (BiP) similarly as in soybean. Finally, as putative downstream components of the NRP-mediated cell death signaling, the stress induction of AtNRP2, ANAC036 and gVPE was dependent on the AtNRP1 function. BiP overexpression also conferred tolerance to water stress in Arabidopsis, most likely due to modulation of the drought-induced NRP-mediated cell death response. CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that the NRP-mediated cell death signaling operates in the plant kingdom with conserved regulatory mechanisms and hence may be target for engineering stress tolerance and adaptation in crops.

The endoplasmic reticulum binding protein BiP displays dual function in modulating cell death events.

The binding protein (BiP) has been demonstrated to participate in innate immunity and attenuate endoplasmic reticulum- and osmotic stress-induced cell death. Here, we employed transgenic plants with manipulated levels of BiP to assess whether BiP also controlled developmental and hypersensitive programmed cell death (PCD). Under normal conditions, the BiP-induced transcriptome revealed a robust down-regulation of developmental PCD genes and an up-regulation of the genes involved in hypersensitive PCD triggered by nonhost-pathogen interactions. Accordingly, the BiP-overexpressing line displayed delayed leaf senescence under normal conditions and accelerated hypersensitive response triggered by Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato in soybean (Glycine max) and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), as monitored by measuring hallmarks of PCD in plants. The BiP-mediated delay of leaf senescence correlated with the attenuation of N-rich protein (NRP)-mediated cell death signaling and the inhibition of the senescence-associated activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR). By contrast, under biological activation of salicylic acid (SA) signaling and hypersensitive PCD, BiP overexpression further induced NRP-mediated cell death signaling and antagonistically inhibited the UPR. Thus, the SA-mediated induction of NRP cell death signaling occurs via a pathway distinct from UPR. Our data indicate that during the hypersensitive PCD, BiP positively regulates the NRP cell death signaling through a yet undefined mechanism that is activated by SA signaling and related to ER functioning. By contrast, BiP's negative regulation of leaf senescence may be linked to its capacity to attenuate the UPR activation and NRP cell death signaling. Therefore, BiP can function either as a negative or positive modulator of PCD events.

The ER luminal binding protein (BiP) mediates an increase in drought tolerance in soybean and delays drought-induced leaf senescence in soybean and tobacco.

The ER-resident molecular chaperone BiP (binding protein) was overexpressed in soybean. When plants growing in soil were exposed to drought (by reducing or completely withholding watering) the wild-type lines showed a large decrease in leaf water potential and leaf wilting, but the leaves in the transgenic lines did not wilt and exhibited only a small decrease in water potential. During exposure to drought the stomata of the transgenic lines did not close as much as in the wild type, and the rates of photosynthesis and transpiration became less inhibited than in the wild type. These parameters of drought resistance in the BiP overexpressing lines were not associated with a higher level of the osmolytes proline, sucrose, and glucose. It was also not associated with the typical drought-induced increase in root dry weight. Rather, at the end of the drought period, the BiP overexpressing lines had a lower level of the osmolytes and root weight than the wild type. The mRNA abundance of several typical drought-induced genes [NAC2, a seed maturation protein (SMP), a glutathione-S-transferase (GST), antiquitin, and protein disulphide isomerase 3 (PDI-3)] increased in the drought-stressed wild-type plants. Compared with the wild type, the increase in mRNA abundance of these genes was less (in some genes much less) in the BiP overexpressing lines that were exposed to drought. The effect of drought on leaf senescence was investigated in soybean and tobacco. It had previously been reported that tobacco BiP overexpression or repression reduced or accentuated the effects of drought. BiP overexpressing tobacco and soybean showed delayed leaf senescence during drought. BiP antisense tobacco plants, conversely, showed advanced leaf senescence. It is concluded that BiP overexpression confers resistance to drought, through an as yet unknown mechanism that is related to ER functioning. The delay in leaf senescence by BiP overexpression might relate to the absence of the response to drought.

Antibiosis by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens ribonuclease barnase expressed in Escherichia coli against symbiotic and endophytic nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

A modified antibiosis assay was used to evaluate growth inhibition of symbiotic and endophytic bacteria by E. coli strains producing Bacillus amyloliquefaciens ribonuclease, barnase. Inhibition zones were only observed when the assays were performed in minimal medium agar. However, bacterial growth inhibition was not detected when using rich medium or susceptible strains expressing the ribonuclease inhibitor protein, barstar. Our results suggest that barnase may act as a broad range bacteriocin. The ecological significance of these results is discussed.

A new system to control the barnase expression by a NifA-dependent promoter.

Barnase is a potent ribonuclease widely used as a cytotoxic agent, tightly regulated by barstar to maintain cell viability. In this report, we describe a new composite regulatory system to control barnase cytotoxicity and expression, involving barstar and lacI genes under control of the NifA-, sigma54-dependent Sinorhizobium meliloti nifH promoter, and the barnase gene under control of the LacI-repressible ptac promoter. In this system, expression of thenifH promoter, activated by constitutively expressed NifA, resulted in constitutive synthesis of the LacI and barstar proteins. LacI, in turn, represses transcription of the barnase gene and barstar inhibits any ribonuclease activity. Full expression of the barnase gene induced by IPTG led to cell death. Control of barnase synthesis and activity could be achieved by regulating nifA expression and NifA protein activity by specific environmental signals.

Monitoring Azospirillum-wheat interactions using the gfp and gusA genes constitutively expressed from a new broad-host range vector.

To monitor the colonization of wheat roots by Azospirillum brasilense, we constructed several plasmids based on the pBBR1 replicon expressing the gfp and gusA genes constitutively. Both genes were placed under control of the gentamycin resistance gene promoter resulting in high levels of expression in Escherichia coli and A. brasilense. The constructed plasmids were stably maintained in A. brasilense strains even in the absence of selective pressure. The colonization of wheat plants grown under controlled conditions in sterilized vermiculite by A. brasilense strain FP2 (a Sp7-derivative) transconjugants containing these plasmids was monitored. Bacteria expressing GFP were easily observed in fresh plant material by fluorescence microscopy. Cell aggregates and single bacteria were visualized on the surfaces of young root zones, such as roots hairs and lateral roots. Large cellular clumps were observed at the points of lateral root emergence or at intercellular spaces of root epidermal cells 30 days after inoculation. Although we failed to detected bacteria in internal cortical and xylem tissues of wheat roots, the initial stage of endophytic colonization by A. brasilense may involve the sites detected in this work.

The molecular chaperone binding protein BiP prevents leaf dehydration-induced cellular homeostasis disruption.

BiP overexpression improves leaf water relations during droughts and delays drought-induced leaf senescence. However, whether BiP controls cellular homeostasis under drought conditions or simply delays dehydration-induced leaf senescence as the primary cause for water stress tolerance remains to be determined. To address this issue, we examined the drought-induced transcriptomes of BiP-overexpressing lines and wild-type (WT) lines under similar leaf water potential (ψw) values. In the WT leaves, a ψw reduction of -1.0 resulted in 1339 up-regulated and 2710 down-regulated genes; in the BiP-overexpressing line 35S::BiP-4, only 334 and 420 genes were induced and repressed, respectively, at a similar leaf ψw = -1.0 MPa. This level of leaf dehydration was low enough to induce a repertory of typical drought-responsive genes in WT leaves but not in 35S::BiP-4 dehydrated leaves. The responders included hormone-related genes, functional and regulatory genes involved in drought protection and senescence-associated genes. The number of differentially expressed genes in the 35S::BiP-4 line approached the wild type number at a leaf ψw = -1.6 MPa. However, N-rich protein (NRP)- mediated cell death signaling genes and unfolded protein response (UPR) genes were induced to a much lower extent in the 35S::BiP-4 line than in the WT even at ψw = -1.6 MPa. The heatmaps for UPR, ERAD (ER-associated degradation protein system), drought-responsive and cell death-associated genes revealed that the leaf transcriptome of 35S::BiP-4 at ψw = -1.0 MPa clustered together with the transcriptome of well-watered leaves and they diverged considerably from the drought-induced transcriptome of the WT (ψw = -1.0, -1.7 and -2.0 MPa) and 35S::BiP-4 leaves at ψw = -1.6 MPa. Taken together, our data revealed that BiP-overexpressing lines requires a much higher level of stress (ψw = -1.6 MPa) to respond to drought than that of WT (ψw = -1.0). Therefore, BiP overexpression maintains cellular homeostasis under water stress conditions and thus ameliorates endogenous osmotic stress.

Comparative molecular analysis of Herbaspirillum strains by RAPD, RFLP, and 16S rDNA sequencing

Herbaspirillum spp. are endophytic diazotrophic bacteria associated with important agricultural crops. In this work, we analyzed six strains of H. seropedicae (Z78, M2, ZA69, ZA95, Z152, and Z67) and one strain of H. rubrisubalbicans (M4) by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) using HindIII or DraI restriction endonucleases, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), and partial sequencing of 16S rDNA. The results of these analyses ascribed the strains studied to three distinct groups: group I, consisting of M2 and M4; group II, of ZA69; and group III, of ZA95, Z78, Z67, and Z152. RAPD fingerprinting showed a higher variability than the other methods, and each strain had a unique electrophoretic pattern with five of the six primers used. Interestingly, H. seropedicae M2 was found by all analyses to be genetically very close to H. rubrisubalbicans M4. Our results show that RAPD can distinguish between all Herbaspirillum strains tested.