OsUVR8b, rather than OsUVR8a, plays a predominant role in rice UVR8-mediated UV-B response.

UV RESISTANCE LOCUS 8 (UVR8) has been identified in Arabidopsis thaliana as the receptor mediating responses to UV-B radiation. However, UVR8-mediated UV-B signaling pathways in rice, which possesses two proteins (UVR8a and UVR8b) with high identities to AtUVR8, remain largely unknown. Here, UVR8a/b were found to be predominantly expressed in rice leaves and leaf sheaths, while the levels of UVR8b transcript and UVR8b protein were both higher than those of UVR8a. Compared to wild-type (WT) plants, uvr8b and uvr8a uvr8b rice mutants exposed to UV-B showed reduced UV-B-induced growth inhibition and upregulation of CHS and HY5 transcripts alongside UV-B acclimation. However, uvr8a mutant was similar to WT plants and exhibited changes comparable with WT. Overexpressing OsUVR8a/b enhanced UV-B-induced growth inhibition and acclimation to UV-B. UV-B was able to enhance the interaction between E3 ubiquitin ligase OsCOP1 and OsUVR8a/b, whereas the interaction of the homologous protein of Arabidopsis REPRESSOR OF UV-B PHOTOMORPHOGENESIS2 (AtRUP2) in rice with OsUVR8a/b was independent of UV-B. Additionally, OsUVR8a/b proteins were also found in the nucleus and cytoplasm even in the absence of UV-B. The abundance of OsUVR8 monomer showed an invisible change in the leaves of rice seedlings transferred from white light to that supplemented with UV-B, even though UV-B was able to weaken the interactions between OsUVR8a and OsUVR8b homo and heterodimers. Therefore, both OsUVR8a and OsUVR8b, which have different localization and response patterns compared with AtUVR8, function in the response of rice to UV-B radiation, whereas OsUVR8b plays a predominant role in this process.

The rice germin-like protein OsGLP1 participates in acclimation to UV-B radiation.

Exposure to ultraviolet B radiation (UV-B) stress can have serious effects on the growth and development of plants. Germin-like proteins (GLPs) may be involved in different abiotic and biotic stress responses in different plants, but little is known about the role of GLPs in UV-B stress response and acclimation in plants. In the present study, knockout of GLP 8-14 (OsGLP1) using the CRISPR/Cas9 system resulted in mutant rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants (herein called glp1) that exhibited UV-B-dependent formation of lesion mimic in leaves. Moreover, glp1 grown under solar radiation (including UV-B) showed decreased plant height and increased leaf angle, but we observed no significant differences in phenotypes between wild-type (WT) plants and glp1 grown under artificial light lacking UV-B. Fv/Fm, Y (II) and the expression of many genes, based on RNA-seq analysis, related to photosynthesis were also only reduced in glp1, but not in WT, after transfer from a growth cabinet illuminated with artificial white light lacking UV-B to growth under natural sunlight. The genes-associated with flavonoid metabolism as well as UV resistance locus 8 (OsUVR8), phytochrome interacting factor-like 15-like (OsPIF3), pyridoxal 5'-phosphate synthase subunit PDX1.2 (OsPDX1.2), deoxyribodipyrimidine photolyase (OsPHR), and deoxyribodipyrimidine photolyase family protein-like (OsPHRL) exhibited lower expression levels, while higher expression levels of mitogen-activated protein kinase 5-like (OsMPK3), mitogen-activated protein kinase 13-like (OsMPK13), and transcription factor MYB4-like (OsMYB4) were observed in glp1 than in WT after transfer from a growth cabinet illuminated with artificial white light to growth under natural sunlight. Therefore, mutations in OsGLP1 resulted in rice plants more sensitive to UV-B and reduced expression of some genes for UV-B protection, suggesting that OsGLP1 is involved in acclimation to UV-B radiation.

A Synthetic Photorespiratory Shortcut Enhances Photosynthesis to Boost Biomass and Grain Yield in Rice.

Several photorespiratory bypasses have been introduced into plants and shown to improve photosynthesis by increasing chloroplastic CO2 concentrations or optimizing energy balance. We recently reported that an engineered GOC bypass could increase photosynthesis and productivity in rice. However, the grain yield of GOC plants was unstable, fluctuating in different cultivation seasons because of varying seed setting rates. In this study, we designed a synthetic photorespiratory shortcut (the GCGT bypass) consisting of genes encoding Oryza sativa glycolate oxidase and Escherichia coli catalase, glyoxylate carboligase, and tartronic semialdehyde reductase. The GCGT bypass was guided by an optimized chloroplast transit peptide that targeted rice chloroplasts and redirected 75% of carbon from glycolate metabolism to the Calvin cycle, identical to the native photorespiration pathway. GCGT transgenic plants exhibited significantly increased biomass production and grain yield, which were mainly attributed to enhanced photosynthesis due to increased chloroplastic CO2 concentrations. Despite the increases in biomass production and grain yield, GCGT transgenic plants showed a reduced seed setting rate, a phenotype previously reported for the GOC plants. Integrative transcriptomic, physiological, and biochemical assays revealed that photosynthetic carbohydrates were not transported to grains in an efficient manner, thereby reducing the seed setting rate. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the GCGT photorespiratory shortcut confers higher yield by promoting photosynthesis in rice, mainly through increasing chloroplastic CO2 concentrations.

Overexpression of OsIAAGLU reveals a role for IAA-glucose conjugation in modulating rice plant architecture.

KEY MESSAGE: OsIAAGLU could catalyze the reaction of IAA with glucose to generate IAA-glucose. Overexpression of OsIAAGLU in rice resulted in altered rice shoot architecture and root gravitropism. The distribution and levels of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) within plant tissues are well known to play vital roles in plant growth and development. An important mechanism of regulating free IAA levels in monocots is formation of IAA ester conjugates. In this study, a cytosol-localized protein encoded by the rice gene of indole-3-acetic acid glucosyltransferase (OsIAAGLU) was found to catalyze the reaction of free IAA with glucose to generate IAA-glucose. Expression of OsIAAGLU could be induced by IAA and NAA. The number of tillers and leaf angle was significantly increased with a concomitant decrease in plant height and panicle length in the transgenic rice lines overexpressing OsIAAGLU compared to the wild-type (WT) plants. Phenotypes of iaaglu mutants constructed using the CRISPR/Cas9 system had no obvious differences with WT plants. Furthermore, overexpression of OsIAAGLU resulted in reduced sensitivity to IAA/NAA and altered gravitropic response of the roots in the transgenic plants. Free IAA contents in the leaves, root tips, and lamina joint of OsIAAGLU-overexpressing transgenic lines were lower than those of WT plants. These results support that OsIAAGLU could play a regulatory role in IAA homeostasis and rice architecture.

Engineering a New Chloroplastic Photorespiratory Bypass to Increase Photosynthetic Efficiency and Productivity in Rice.

Over the past few years, three photorespiratory bypasses have been introduced into plants, two of which led to observable increases in photosynthesis and biomass yield. However, most of the experiments were carried out using Arabidopsis under controlled environmental conditions, and the increases were only observed under low-light and short-day conditions. In this study, we designed a new photorespiratory bypass (called GOC bypass), characterized by no reducing equivalents being produced during a complete oxidation of glycolate into CO2 catalyzed by three rice-self-originating enzymes, i.e., glycolate oxidase, oxalate oxidase, and catalase. We successfully established this bypass in rice chloroplasts using a multi-gene assembly and transformation system. Transgenic rice plants carrying GOC bypass (GOC plants) showed significant increases in photosynthesis efficiency, biomass yield, and nitrogen content, as well as several other CO2-enriched phenotypes under both greenhouse and field conditions. Grain yield of GOC plants varied depending on seeding season and was increased significantly in the spring. We further demonstrated that GOC plants had significant advantages under high-light conditions and that the improvements in GOC plants resulted primarily from a photosynthetic CO2-concentrating effect rather than from improved energy balance. Taken together, our results reveal that engineering a newly designed chloroplastic photorespiratory bypass could increase photosynthetic efficiency and yield of rice plants grown in field conditions, particularly under high light.

An optimized transit peptide for effective targeting of diverse foreign proteins into chloroplasts in rice.

Various chloroplast transit peptides (CTP) have been used to successfully target some foreign proteins into chloroplasts, but for other proteins these same CTPs have reduced localization efficiencies or fail completely. The underlying cause of the failures remains an open question, and more effective CTPs are needed. In this study, we initially observed that two E.coli enzymes, EcTSR and EcGCL, failed to be targeted into rice chloroplasts by the commonly-used rice rbcS transit peptide (rCTP) and were subsequently degraded. Further analyses revealed that the N-terminal unfolded region of cargo proteins is critical for their localization capability, and that a length of about 20 amino acids is required to attain the maximum localization efficiency. We considered that the unfolded region may alleviate the steric hindrance produced by the cargo protein, by functioning as a spacer to which cytosolic translocators can bind. Based on this inference, an optimized CTP, named RC2, was constructed. Analyses showed that RC2 can more effectively target diverse proteins, including EcTSR and EcGCL, into rice chloroplasts. Collectively, our results provide further insight into the mechanism of CTP-mediated chloroplastic localization, and more importantly, RC2 can be widely applied in future chloroplastic metabolic engineering, particularly for crop plants.

Overexpression of Glycolate Oxidase Confers Improved Photosynthesis under High Light and High Temperature in Rice.

While glycolate oxidase (GLO) is well known as a key enzyme for the photorespiratory metabolism in plants, its physiological function and mechanism remains to be further clarified. Our previous studies have shown that suppression of GLO in rice leads to stunted growth and inhibited photosynthesis (Pn) which is positively and linearly correlated with decreased GLO activities. It is, therefore, of interest to further understand whether Pn can be improved when GLO is up-regulated? In this study, four independent overexpression rice lines, with gradient increases in GLO activity, were generated and functionally analyzed. Phenotypic observations showed that the growth could be improved when GLO activities were increased by 60 or 100%, whereas reduced growth was noticed when the activity was further increased by 150 or 210%. As compared with WT plants, all the overexpression plants exhibited significantly improved Pn under conditions of high light and high temperature, but not under normal conditions. In addition, the overexpression plants were more resistant to the MV-induced photooxidative stress. It was further demonstrated that the antioxidant enzymes, and the antioxidant metabolite glutathione was not significantly altered in the overexpression plants. In contrast, H2O2 and salicylic acid (SA) were correspondingly induced upon the GLO overexpression. Taken together, the results suggest that GLO may play an important role for plants to cope with high light and high temperature, and that H2O2 and SA may serve as signaling molecules to trigger stress defense responses but antioxidant reactions appear not to be involved in the defense.

Association-Dissociation of Glycolate Oxidase with Catalase in Rice: A Potential Switch to Modulate Intracellular H2O2 Levels.

Rapid and dynamic change in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels can serve as an important signal to regulate various biological processes in plants. The change is realized by tilting the balance between its production and scavenging rates, in which membrane-associated NADPH oxidases are known to play a crucial role. Functioning independently from NADPH oxidases, glycolate oxidase (GLO) was recently demonstrated as an alternative source for H2O2 production during both gene-for-gene and non-host resistance in plants. In this study, we show that GLO physically interacts with catalase (CAT) in rice leaves, and that the interaction can be deregulated by salicylic acid (SA). Furthermore, the GLO-mediated H2O2 accumulation is synergistically enhanced by SA. Based on the well-known mechanism of substrate channeling in enzyme complexes, SA-induced H2O2 accumulation likely results from SA-induced GLO-CAT dissociation. In the GLO-CAT complex, GLO-mediated H2O2 production during photorespiration is very high, whereas the affinity of CAT for H2O2 (measured Km ≈ 43 mM) is extraordinarily low. This unique combination can further potentiate the increase in H2O2 when GLO is dissociated from CAT. Taken together, we propose that the physical association-dissociation of GLO and CAT, in response to environmental stress or stimuli, seems to serve as a specific mechanism to modulate H2O2 levels in rice.

Divergent biochemical and enzymatic properties of oxalate oxidase isoforms encoded by four similar genes in rice.

The biochemical and enzymatic properties of four highly similar rice oxalate oxidase proteins (OsOxO1-4) were compared after their purification from the leaves of transgenic plants each overexpressing the respective OsOxO1-4 genes. Although alignment of their amino acid sequences has revealed divergence mainly in the signal peptides and they catalyze the same enzymic (oxalate oxidase) reaction, divergence in apparent molecular mass, Km, optimum pH, stability and responses to inhibitors and activators was uncovered by biochemical characterization of the purified OsOxO1-4 proteins. The apparent molecular mass of oligomer OsOxO1 was found to be similar to that of OsOxO3 but lower than the other two. The molecular mass of the subunit of OsOxO1 was lower than that of OsOxO3. The Km value of OsOxO3 was higher than the other three which had similar Km. OsOxO1 and OsOxO4 possessed peak activity at pH 8.5 which was close to that at the optimum pH 4.0. The activity of OsOxO2 at pH 8.5 was only 65% of that at its optimum pH 3.5, while the activity of OsOxO3 did not vary much at pH 6-9 and was also much lower than that at its optimum pH 3. OsOxO2 and OsOxO3 still maintained all their activities after being heated at 70°C for 1h while OsOxO1 and OsOxO4 lost about 30% of their activities. Pyruvate and oxaloacetic acid inhibited the activity of OsOxO3 more strongly than the other three. Interestingly, glucose 6-phosphate, fructose 6-phosphate and fructose 1,6-biphosphate related to photosynthetic assimilation of triose phosphate greatly increased the activities of OsOxO3 and OsOxO4. In addition to the differences in the biochemical properties of the four OsOxO proteins, an intriguing finding is that the purified OsOxO1-4 exhibited substrate inhibition, which is a typical of the classical Michaelis-Menten enzyme kinetics exhibited by a majority of other enzymes.

Comparative transcriptomics analysis reveals difference of key gene expression between banana and plantain in response to cold stress.

BACKGROUND: Banana and plantain (Musa spp.) comprise an important part of diets for millions of people around the globe. Low temperature is one of the key environmental stresses which greatly affects the global banana production. To understand the molecular mechanism of the cold-tolerance in plantain we used RNA-Seq based comparative transcriptomics analyses for both cold-sensitive banana and cold-tolerant plantain subjected to the cold stress for 0, 3 and 6 h. RESULTS: The cold-response genes at early stage are identified and grouped in both species by GO analysis. The results show that 10 and 68 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) are identified for 3 and 6 h of cold stress respectively in plantain, while 40 and 238 DEGs are identified respectively in banana. GO classification analyses show that the majority of DEGs identified in both banana and plantain belong to 11 categories including regulation of transcription, response to stress signal transduction, etc. A similar profile for 28 DEGs was found in both banana and plantain for 6 h of cold stress, suggesting both share some common adaptation processes in response to cold stress. There are 17 DEGs found uniquely in cold-tolerance plantain, which were involved in signal transduction, abiotic stress, copper ion equilibrium, photosynthesis and photorespiration, sugar stimulation, protein modifications etc. Twelve early responsive genes including ICE1 and MYBS3 were selected and further assessed and confirmed by qPCR in the extended time course experiments (0, 3, 6, 24 and 48 h), which revealed significant expression difference of key genes in response to cold stress, especially ICE1 and MYBS3 between cold-sensitive banana and cold-tolerant plantain. CONCLUSIONS: We found that the cold-tolerance pathway appears selectively activated by regulation of ICE1 and MYBS3 expression in plantain under different stages of cold stress. We conclude that the rapid activation and selective induction of ICE1 and MYBS3 cold tolerance pathways in plantain, along with expression of other cold-specific genes, may be one of the main reasons that plantain has higher cold resistance than banana.

Nitric oxide ameliorates zinc oxide nanoparticles-induced phytotoxicity in rice seedlings.

Nitric oxide (NO) has been found to function in enhancing plant tolerance to various environmental stresses. However, role of NO in relieving zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs)-induced phytotoxicity remains unknown. Here, sodium nitroprusside (SNP, a NO donor) was used to investigate the possible roles and the regulatory mechanisms of NO in counteracting ZnO NPs toxicity in rice seedlings. Our results showed that 10 µM SNP significantly inhibited the appearance of ZnO NP toxicity symptoms. SNP addition significantly reduced Zn accumulation, reactive oxygen species production and lipid peroxidation caused by ZnO NPs. The protective role of SNP in reducing ZnO NPs-induced oxidative damage is closely related to NO-mediated antioxidant system. A decrease in superoxide dismutase activity, as well as an increase in reduced glutathione content and peroxidase, catalase and ascorbate peroxidase activity was observed under SNP and ZnO NPs combined treatments, compared to ZnO NPs treatment alone. The relative transcript abundance of corresponding antioxidant genes exhibited a similar change. The role of NO in enhancing ZnO NPs tolerance was further confirmed by genetic analysis using a NO excess mutant (noe1) and an OsNOA1-silenced plant (noa1) of rice. Together, this study provides the first evidence indicating that NO functions in ameliorating ZnO NPs-induced phytotoxicity.

Suppression of glycolate oxidase causes glyoxylate accumulation that inhibits photosynthesis through deactivating Rubisco in rice.

Glycolate oxidase (GLO) is a key enzyme for photorespiration in plants. Previous studies have demonstrated that suppression of GLO causes photosynthetic inhibition, and the accumulated glycolate with the deactivated Rubisco is likely involved in the regulation. Using isolated Rubisco and chloroplasts, it has been found that only glyoxylate can effectively inactivate Rubisco and meanwhile inhibit photosynthesis, but little in vivo evidence has been acquired and reported. In this study, we have generated the transgenic rice (Oryza sativa) plants with GLO being constitutively silenced, and conducted the physiological and biochemical analyses on these plants to explore the regulatory mechanism. When GLO was downregulated, the net photosynthetic rate (Pn) was reduced and the plant growth was correspondingly stunted. Surprisingly, glyoxylate, as a product of the GLO catalysis, was accumulated in response to the GLO suppression, like its substrate glycolate. Furthermore, the glyoxylate content was found to be inversely proportional to the Pn while the Pn is directly proportional to the Rubisco activation state in the GLO-suppressed plants. A mathematical fitting equation using least square method also demonstrated that the Rubisco activation state was inversely proportional to the glyoxylate content. Despite that the further analyses we have conducted failed to reveal how glyoxylate was accumulated in response to the GLO suppression, the current results do strongly suggest that there may exist an unidentified, alternative pathway to produce glyoxylate, and that the accumulated glyoxylate inhibits photosynthesis by deactivating Rubisco, and causes the photorespiratory phenotype in the GLO-suppressed rice plants.

Quantitative proteomic analysis reveals that antioxidation mechanisms contribute to cold tolerance in plantain (Musa paradisiaca L.; ABB Group) seedlings.

Banana and its close relative, plantain are globally important crops and there is considerable interest in optimizing their cultivation. Plantain has superior cold tolerance compared with banana and a thorough understanding of the molecular mechanisms and responses of plantain to cold stress has great potential value for developing cold tolerant banana cultivars. In this study, we used iTRAQ-based comparative proteomic analysis to investigate the temporal responses of plantain to cold stress. Plantain seedlings were exposed for 0, 6, and 24 h of cold stress at 8 °C and subsequently allowed to recover for 24 h at 28 °C. A total of 3477 plantain proteins were identified, of which 809 showed differential expression from the three treatments. The majority of differentially expressed proteins were predicted to be involved in oxidation-reduction, including oxylipin biosynthesis, whereas others were associated with photosynthesis, photorespiration, and several primary metabolic processes, such as carbohydrate metabolic process and fatty acid beta-oxidation. Western blot analysis and enzyme activity assays were performed on seven differentially expressed, cold-response candidate plantain proteins to validate the proteomics data. Similar analyses of the seven candidate proteins were performed in cold-sensitive banana to examine possible functional conservation, and to compare the results to equivalent responses between the two species. Consistent results were achieved by Western blot and enzyme activity assays, demonstrating that the quantitative proteomics data collected in this study are reliable. Our results suggest that an increase of antioxidant capacity through adapted ROS scavenging capability, reduced production of ROS, and decreased lipid peroxidation contribute to molecular mechanisms for the increased cold tolerance in plantain. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a global investigation on molecular responses of plantain to cold stress by proteomic analysis.

Protective effect of supplemental anthocyanins on Arabidopsis leaves under high light.

Ten anthocyanin components have been detected in roots of purple sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Lam.) by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to diode array detection and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. All the anthocyanins were exclusively cyanidins or peonidin 3-sophoroside-5-glucosides and their acylated derivatives. The total anthocyanin content in purple sweet potato powder obtained by solid-phase extraction was 66 mg g(-1). A strong capacity of purple sweet potato anthocyanins (PSPA) to scavenge reactive oxygen species (superoxide, hydroxyl radical) and the stable 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl organic free radical was found in vitro using the electron spin resonance technique. To determine the functional roles of anthocyanins in leaves in vivo, for the first time, supplemental anthocyanins were infiltrated into leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana double mutant of the ecotype Landsberg erecta (tt3tt4) deficient in anthocyanin biosynthesis. Chlorophyll fluorescence imaging showed that anthocyanins significantly ameliorated the inactivation of photosystems II during prolonged high-light (1300 micromol m(-2) s(-1)) exposure. Comet assay of DNA revealed an obvious role of supplemental PSPA in alleviating DNA damage by high light in leaves. Our results suggest that anthocyanins could function in vitro and in vivo to alleviate the direct or indirect oxidative damage of the photosynthetic apparatus and DNA in plants caused by high-light stress.

Comparative proteome analysis of differentially expressed proteins induced by Al toxicity in soybean.

Phytotoxic aluminum (Al) is a limiting factor for crop production on acid soils. The molecular mechanism, however, underlying Al toxicity and responses in plants is still not well understood. We report here the characterization of comparative proteome of aluminum-stress-responsive proteins in a known Al-resistant soybean cultivar, Baxi 10 (BX10). To investigate time-dependent responses, 1-week-old soybean seedlings were exposed to 50 microM AlCl3 for 24, 48 and 72 h, and total proteins extracted from roots were separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis. More than 1200 root proteins of the soybean BX10 seedling were reproducibly resolved on the gels. A total of 39 differentially expressed spots in abundance were identified by mass spectrometry, with 21 upregulated, 13 newly induced and 5 downregulated. The heat shock protein, glutathione S-transferase, chalcone-related synthetase, GTP-binding protein and ABC transporter ATP-binding protein were previously detected at the transcriptional or translational level in other plants. Other proteins, identified in this study, are new Al-induced proteins. Soybean BX10 roots under aluminum stress could be characterized by the cellular activities involved in stress/defense, signal transduction, transport, protein folding, gene regulation, and primary metabolisms, which are critical for plant survival under Al toxicity. This present study expands our understanding of differentially expressed proteins associated with aluminum stress on soybean BX10.

Differential expression of proteins in rice leaves cultivated with different forms of nitrogen nutrients.

Nitrate as one of the two main nitrogen source compounds, acts also as a potent signal substance in plant growth and development. It is increasingly interesting to determine whether nitrate itself or the derived metabolites acts as a signal during the regulation. Rice seedlings were treated with different nitrogen forms (NO(-)(3) vs. NH(+)(4)) and total proteins extracted either from nitrate-fed or ammonium-fed leaves were separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE), and then the differentially-expressed proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF-MS or ESI-Q-TOF-MS. Twenty-six proteins were up-regulated with NO(-)(3) as the nitrogen source while 6 were up-regulated with NH(+)(4) as the nitrogen source. MS analysis, in combination with database searching, allowed for only a total of 11 proteins identified with significant probability. Among them 7 nitrate-up-regulated proteins were identified, i.e., a PSII oxygen-evolving complex protein 1 (N1), a putative CC-NBS-LRR resistance protein MLA13 (N2), a 23-kD polypeptide of PSII (N3), a translation initiation factor eIF-5A (N5), a putative PSII oxygen-evolving complex protein 2 precursor (N8), an unknown protein (N17), and the ubiquitin carrier protein UBC7 (N18). Four ammonium-up-regulated proteins were identified as the ATP synthase beta subunit (A1), the putative aminotransferase (A3), a hypothetical protein (A5), and OSJNBb0032K15.22 (A6). These results give some new insights into both the biochemical adaptation of plant to different nitrogen forms (NO(-)(3)/NH(+)(4)) and the differences in responses signaled by NO(-)(3)/NH(+)(4) in rice.

Oxalate accumulation and regulation is independent of glycolate oxidase in rice leaves.

Cellular oxalate, widely distributed in many plants, is implicated to play important roles in various functions and is also known to affect food qualities adversely in fruits and vegetables. How oxalate is regulated in plants is currently not well understood. Glycolate oxidase (GLO) has long been considered as an important player in oxalate accumulation in plants. To gain further insight into the biochemical and molecular mechanisms, the possible roles of GLO in the process were studied. Drastically different levels of oxalate could be achieved by treating rice with various nitrogen forms (nitrate versus ammonium). While nitrate stimulated oxalate accumulation, ammonium reduced its level. Such treatments resulted in similar pattern changes for some other related organic acids, such as glycolate, oxaloacetate, and malate. By feeding plants with exogenous glycolate it was possible almost completely to restore the ammonium-decreased oxalate level. Under the two treatments few differences were observed for GLO mRNA levels, protein levels, and in vitro activities. Both K(m) for glycolate/glyoxylate and K(i) for oxalate remained almost the same for GLO purified from either nitrate- or ammonium-fed leaves. A further in vivo study, with transgenic plants carrying an estradiol-inducible GLO antisense gene, showed that, while the estradiol-induced antisense expression remarkably reduced both GLO protein levels and activities, oxalate levels were not significantly altered in the estradiol-treated transgenic plants. Taken together, it is suggested that oxalate accumulation and regulation is independent of GLO in rice leaves.

[A two-dimensional electrophoresis protocol suitable for proteomic study of rice leaves].

A 2-DE (two-dimensional electrophoresis) protocol suited for the separation of proteins from rice leaves was established. Protein extraction, quantitative loading of samples and concentrations of the gel were modified and improved to minimize markedly the interference by leaf pigments and other non-protein substances, thus resulting in satisfactory separation results.

Glycerate-oxidizing activity of glycolate oxidase from leaves of Spinacia oleracea.

Glycolate oxidase (GO) was purified to homogeneity from leaves of spinach (Spinacia oleracea). Through detecting the consumption of oxygen and the formation of hydrogen peroxide in the assay solution, it was found that GO could also oxidize glycerate, another metabolite in the photorespiratory pathway, and use FMN and FAD, but not riboflavin and lumiflavin, as its cofactors. The optimum reaction pH, Km for glycerate, k(cat) and activation energy of this oxidizing reaction were determined to be 8.0, 7.14 mmol/L, 1.04 s(-1) and 17.29 kJ/mol, respectively. Oxalate and pyruvate at 5.0 mmol/L could inhibit the glycerate-oxidizing activity by 34% and 26%, and oxalate acted as a competitive inhibitor of the glycerate oxidation reaction with a K(i) of 0.75 mmol/L. By the competition plotting with mixed-substrates, it was indicated that glycolate-oxidizing activity and glycerate-oxidizing activity of GO shared the same active site.

[Effect of phosphorus deficiency on alternative respiratory pathway and its relation with O2-* accumulation in suspension-cultured tobacco cells].

Effects of phosphorus deficiency on alternative respiratory pathway and its relation with O(-.)(2) production were investigated in two lines of suspension-cultured tobacco cells which have different tolerances to P deficiency. Oxford cells were shown to be much more tolerant than K326. There were no apparent differences in inorganic and total phosphorous content between the two cell lines. The capacity and activity of alternative respiratory pathway were decreased by P deficiency in K326 cells but were little influenced in Oxford cells. Under either P-deficient or sufficient condition, the capacity and activity of alternative respiratory pathway were always higher in Oxford than in K326. When mitochondria were isolated and used for the same study, similar results were obtained as described above. The expression of AOX at protein level was induced by P deficiency in both lines to similar extents. O(-.)(2) content in K326 cells was significantly higher under P deficiency but little affected in Oxford. It is suggested that alternative respiratory pathway may be associated with tolerance of tobacco cells to P deficiency and may play a role in scavenging reactive oxygen species.