A Potential Role of Coumestrol in Soybean Leaf Senescence and Its Interaction With Phytohormones.

Coumestrol is a natural organic compound synthesized in soy leaves and functions as a phytoalexin. The coumestrol levels in plants are reported to increase upon insect attack. This study investigates the correlation between coumestrol, senescence, and the effect of phytohormones on the coumestrol levels in soybean leaves. Our analysis involving high-performance liquid chromatography and 2-D gel electrophoresis indicated a significant difference in the biochemical composition of soybean leaves at various young and mature growth stages. Eight chemical compounds were specifically detected in young leaves (V1) only, whereas three different coumestans isotrifoliol, coumestrol, and phaseol were detected only in mature, yellow leaves of the R6 and R7 growth stage. MALDI-TOF-MS analysis was used to identify two proteins 3,9 -dihydroxypterocarpan 6A-monooxygenase (CYP93A1) and isoflavone reductase homolog 2 (IFR2) only in mature leaves, which are key components of the coumestrol biosynthetic pathway. This indicates that senescence in soybean is linked to the accumulation of coumestrol. Following the external application of coumestrol, the detached V1-stage young leaves turned yellow and showed an interesting development of roots at the base of the midrib. Additionally, the application of phytohormones, including SA, methyl jasmonate (MeJA), and ethephon alone and in various combinations induced yellowing within 5 days of the application with a concomitant significant increase in endogenous coumestrol accumulation. This was also accompanied by a significant increase in the expression of genes CYP81E28 (Gm08G089500), CYP81E22 (Gm16G149300), GmIFS1, and GmIFS2. These results indicate that various coumestans, especially coumestrol, accumulate during leaf maturity, or senescence in soybean.

Nitrate Reductase-Mediated Nitric Oxide Regulates the Leaf Shape in Arabidopsis by Mediating the Homeostasis of Reactive Oxygen Species.

As a gaseous biological signaling molecule, nitric oxide (NO) regulates many physiological processes in plants. Over the last decades, this low molecular weight compound has been identified as a key signaling molecule to regulate plant stress responses, and also plays an important role in plant development. However, elucidation of the molecular mechanisms for NO in leaf development has so far been limited due to a lack of mutant resources. Here, we employed the NO-deficient mutant nia1nia2 to examine the role of NO in leaf development. We have found that nia1nia2 mutant plants displayed very different leaf phenotypes as compared to wild type Col-0. Further studies have shown that reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels are higher in nia1nia2 mutant plants. Interestingly, ROS-related enzymes ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalases (CAT), and peroxidases (POD) have shown decreases in their activities. Our transcriptome data have revealed that the ROS synthesis gene RBOHD was enhanced in nia1nia2 mutants and the photosynthesis-related pathway was impaired, which suggests that NO is required for chloroplast development and leaf development. Together, these results imply that NO plays a significant role in plant leaf development by regulating ROS homeostasis.

Comprehensive analysis of plant rapid alkalization factor (RALF) genes.

Receptor mediated signal carriers play a critical role in the regulation of plant defense and development. Rapid alkalization factor (RALF) proteins potentially comprise important signaling components which may have a key role in plant biology. The RALF gene family contains large number of genes in several plant species, however, only a few RALF genes have been characterized to date. In this study, an extensive database search identified 39, 43, 34 and 18 RALF genes in Arabidopsis, rice, maize and soybean, respectively. These RALF genes were found to be highly conserved across the 4 plant species. A comprehensive analysis including the chromosomal location, gene structure, subcellular location, conserved motifs, protein structure, protein-ligand interaction and promoter analysis was performed. RALF genes from four plant species were divided into 7 groups based on phylogenetic analysis. In silico expression analysis of these genes, using microarray and EST data, revealed that these genes exhibit a variety of expression patterns. Furthermore, RALF genes showed distinct expression patterns of transcript accumulation in vivo following nitrosative and oxidative stresses in Arabidopsis. Predicted interaction between RALF and heme ligand also showed that RALF proteins may contribute towards transporting or scavenging oxygen moieties. This suggests a possible role for RALF genes during changes in cellular redox status. Collectively, our data provides a valuable resource to prime future research in the role of RALF genes in plant growth and development.