Structure, ultrastructure and cation accumulation in quinoa epidermal bladder cell complex under high saline stress.

Quinoa is a facultative halophyte with excellent tolerance to salinity. In this study, the epidermal bladder cell complex (EBCc) of quinoa leaves was studied to determine their cellular characteristics and involvement in salt tolerance. We used light microscopy, confocal RAMAN microscopy, confocal fluorescence microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and environmental scanning electron microscopy complemented by energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Ionic content was quantified with flame atomic absorption spectroscopy and with flame emission photometry. Results show that: (i) the number of EBCcs remains constant but their density and area vary with leaf age; (ii) stalk cells store lipids and exhibit thick walls, bladder cells present carotenes in small vesicles, oxalate crystals in vacuoles and lignin in their walls and both stalk and bladder cells have cuticles that differ in wax and cutin content; (iii) chloroplasts containing starch can be found on both stalk and bladder cells, and the latter also presents grana; (iv) plasmodesmata are observed between the stalk cell and the bladder cell, and between the epidermal cell and the stalk cell, and ectodesmata-like structures are observed on the bladder cell. Under high salinity conditions, (v) there is a clear tendency to accumulate greater amounts of K+ with respect to Na+ in the bladder cell; (vi) stalk cells accumulate similar amounts of K+ and Na+; (vii) Na+ accumulates mainly in the medullary parenchyma of the stem. These results add knowledge about the structure, content, and role of EBCc under salt stress, and surprisingly present the parenchyma of the stem as the main area of Na+ accumulation.

A three-domain copper-nitrite reductase with a unique sensing loop.

Dissimilatory nitrite reductases are key enzymes in the denitrification pathway, reducing nitrite and leading to the production of gaseous products (NO, N2O and N2). The reaction is catalysed either by a Cu-containing nitrite reductase (NirK) or by a cytochrome cd 1 nitrite reductase (NirS), as the simultaneous presence of the two enzymes has never been detected in the same microorganism. The thermophilic bacterium Thermus scotoductus SA-01 is an exception to this rule, harbouring both genes within a denitrification cluster, which encodes for an atypical NirK. The crystal structure of TsNirK has been determined at 1.63 Šresolution. TsNirK is a homotrimer with subunits of 451 residues that contain three copper atoms each. The N-terminal region possesses a type 2 Cu (T2Cu) and a type 1 Cu (T1CuN) while the C-terminus contains an extra type 1 Cu (T1CuC) bound within a cupredoxin motif. T1CuN shows an unusual Cu atom coordination (His2-Cys-Gln) compared with T1Cu observed in NirKs reported so far (His2-Cys-Met). T1CuC is buried at ∼5 Šfrom the molecular surface and located ∼14.1 Šaway from T1CuN; T1CuN and T2Cu are ∼12.6 Šapart. All these distances are compatible with an electron-transfer process T1CuC → T1CuN → T2Cu. T1CuN and T2Cu are connected by a typical Cys-His bridge and an unexpected sensing loop which harbours a SerCAT residue close to T2Cu, suggesting an alternative nitrite-reduction mechanism in these enzymes. Biophysicochemical and functional features of TsNirK are discussed on the basis of X-ray crystallography, electron paramagnetic resonance, resonance Raman and kinetic experiments.

Calculation of vibrational spectra of linear tetrapyrroles. 4. Methine bridge C-H out-of-plane modes.

Quantum chemical force fields obtained by density functional theory (DFT) calculations systematically overestimate the frequencies of normal modes including ethylenic C-H out-of-plane (HOOP) coordinates. Compensation of this deviation requires a specific scaling factor for this type of coordinate that is distinctly lower than those applicable to out-of-plane coordinates in general. Such a specific scaling factor (0.900) has been optimized for the DFT(B3LYP) level of theory on the basis of vibrational analyses of training molecules including the HOOP coordinate. Thus, the root-mean-square deviation for the calculated frequencies of these modes is reduced from 16 to 8 cm(-1). Although Raman intensities are yet not reproduced in a satisfactory manner, implementation of the HOOP scaling factor into the set of global scaling factors determined previously (Magdo et al. J. Phys. Chem. A 1999, 103, 289-303) allows for a substantially improved reproduction of the experimental (resonance) Raman spectra of test molecules including linear methine-bridged tetrapyrroles. A very good agreement between calculated and experimental spectra is noted for the phycocyanobilin dimethylester dimer as well as for the protein-bound phycocyanobilin in the antenna pigment alpha-CPC. However, for the phycocyanobilin chromophore in the P(r) state of the plant photoreceptor phytochrome phyA, considerable deviations remain in the spectral range between 800 and 500 cm(-1), which are attributed to the effect of specific protein-chromophore interactions. The influence of the protein environment is not considered in the present calculations that refer to the molecule in vacuo.