The developmental outcomes of P0-mediated ARGONAUTE destabilization in tomato.

The plant protein ARGONAUTE1 (AGO1) functions in multiple RNA-silencing pathways, including those of microRNAs, key regulators of growth and development. Genetic analysis of ago1 mutants with informative defects has provided valuable insights into AGO1's biological functions. Tomato encodes two AGO1 homologs (SlAGO1s), but mutants have not been described to date. To analyze SlAGO1s' involvement in development, we confirmed that both undergo decay in the presence of the Polerovirus silencing suppressor P0 and produce a transgenic responder line (OP:P0HA) that, upon transactivation, expresses P0 C-terminally fused to a hemagglutinin (HA) tag (P0HA) and destabilizes SlAGO1s at the site of expression. By crossing OP:P0HA with a battery of driver lines, constitutive as well as organ- and stage-specific SlAGO1 downregulation was induced in the F1 progeny. Activated plants exhibited various developmental phenotypes that partially overlapped with those of Arabidopsis ago1 mutants. Plants that constitutively expressed P0HA had reduced SlAGO1 levels and increased accumulation of miRNA targets, indicating compromised SlAGO1-mediated silencing. Consistent with this, they exhibited pleiotropic morphological defects and their growth was arrested post-germination. Transactivation of P0HA in young leaf and floral organ primordia dramatically modified corresponding organ morphology, including the radialization of leaflets, petals and anthers, suggesting that SlAGO1s' activities are required for normal lateral organ development and polarity. Overall, our results suggest that the OP:P0HA responder line can serve as a valuable tool to suppress SlAGO1 silencing pathways in tomato. The suppression of additional SlAGOs by P0HA and its contribution to the observed phenotypes awaits investigation.

Combining comparative sequence and genomic data to ascertain phylogenetic relationships and explore the evolution of the large GDSL-lipase family in land plants.

The GDSL-lipase gene family is a very large subfamily within the supergene family of SGNH esterases, defined by the distinct GDSL amino acid motif and several highly conserved domains. Plants retain a large number of GDSL-lipases indicating that they have acquired important functions. Yet, in planta functions have been demonstrated for only a few GDSL-lipases from diverse species. Considering that orthologs often retain equivalent functions, we determined the phylogenetic relationships between GDSL-lipases from genome-sequenced species representing bryophytes, gymnosperms, monocots, and eudicots. An unrooted phylogenetic tree was constructed from the amino acid sequences of 604 GDSL-lipases from seven species. The topology of the tree depicts two major and one minor subfamily. This division is also supported by the unique gene structure of each subfamily. Because GDSL-lipase genes of all species are present in each of the three subfamilies, we conclude that the last common ancestor of the land plants already possessed at least one ancestral GDSL-lipase gene of each subfamily. Combined gene structure and synteny analyses revealed events of segmental duplications, gene transposition, and gene degeneration in the evolution of the GDSL-lipase gene family. Furthermore, these analyses showed that independent events of intron gain and loss also contributed to the extant repertoire of the GDSL-lipase gene family. Our findings suggest that underlying many of the intron losses was a spliceosomal-mediated mechanism followed by gene conversion. Sorting the phylogenetic relationships among the members of the GDSL-lipase gene family, as depicted by the tree and supported by synteny analyses, provides a framework for extrapolation of demonstrated functional data to GDSL-lipases, whose function is yet unknown. Furthermore, function(s) associated with specific lineage(s)-enriched branches may reveal correlations between acquired and/or lost functions and speciation.

A novel allele of FILAMENTOUS FLOWER reveals new insights on the link between inflorescence and floral meristem organization and flower morphogenesis.

BACKGROUND: The Arabidopsis FILAMENTOUS FLOWER (FIL) gene encodes a YABBY (YAB) family putative transcription factor that has been implicated in specifying abaxial cell identities and thus regulating organ polarity of lateral organs. In contrast to double mutants of fil and other YAB genes, fil single mutants display mainly floral and inflorescence morphological defects that do not reflect merely a loss of abaxial identity. Recently, FIL and other YABs have been shown to regulate meristem organization in a non-cell-autonomous manner. In a screen for new mutations affecting floral organ morphology and development, we have identified a novel allele of FIL, fil-9 and characterized its floral and meristem phenotypes. RESULTS: The fil-9 mutation results in highly variable disruptions in floral organ numbers and size, partial homeotic transformations, and in defective inflorescence organization. Examination of meristems indicates that both fil-9 inflorescence and floral meristems are enlarged as a result of an increase in cell number, and deformed. Furthermore, primordia emergence from these meristems is disrupted such that several primordia arise simultaneously instead of sequentially. Many of the organs produced by the inflorescence meristems are filamentous, yet they are not considered by the plant as flowers. The severity of both floral organs and meristem phenotypes is increased acropetally and in higher growth temperature. CONCLUSIONS: Detailed analysis following the development of fil-9 inflorescence and flowers throughout flower development enabled the drawing of a causal link between multiple traits of fil-9 phenotypes. The study reinforces the suggested role of FIL in meristem organization. The loss of spatial and temporal organization of fil-9 inflorescence and floral meristems presumably leads to disrupted cell allocation to developing floral organs and to a blurring of organ whorl boundaries. This disruption is reflected in morphological and organ identity aberrations of fil-9 floral organs and in the production of filamentous organs that are not perceived as flowers. Here, we show the role of FIL in reproductive meristem development and emphasize the potential of using fil mutants to study mersitem organization and the related effects on flower morphogenesis.

Arabinogalactan proteins 6 and 11 are required for stamen and pollen function in Arabidopsis.

Successful male reproductive function in plants is dependent on the correct development and functioning of stamens and pollen. AGP6 and AGP11 are two homologous Arabidopsis genes encoding cell wall-associated arabinogalactan glycoproteins (AGPs). Both genes were found to be specifically expressed in stamens, pollen grains and pollen tubes, suggesting that these genes may play a role in male organ development and function. RNAi lines with reduced AGP6 and AGP11 expression were generated. These, together with lines harboring point mutations in the coding region of AGP6, were used to show that loss of function in AGP6 and AGP11 led to reduced fertility, at least partly as a result of inhibition of pollen tube growth. Our results also suggest that AGP6 and AGP11 play an additional role in the release of pollen grains from the mature anther. Thus, our study demonstrates the involvement of specific AGPs in pollen tube growth and stamen function.

C-terminal residues of plant glutamate decarboxylase are required for oligomerization of a high-molecular weight complex and for activation by calcium/calmodulin.

Bacterial glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) is a homohexameric enzyme of about 330 kDa. Plant GAD differs from the bacterial enzyme in having a C-terminal extension of 33 amino acids within which resides a calmodulin (CaM)-binding domain. In order to assess the role of the C-terminal extension in the formation of GAD complexes and in activation by Ca2+/CaM, we examined complexes formed with the purified full-length recombinant petunia GAD expressed in E. coli, and with a 9 amino acid C-terminal deletion mutant (GADDeltaC9). Size exclusion chromatography revealed that the full-length GAD formed complexes of about 580 kDa and 300 kDa in the absence of Ca2+/CaM, whereas in the presence of Ca2+/CaM all complexes shifted to approximately 680 kDa. With deletion of 9 amino acids from the C-terminus (KKKKTNRVC(500)), the ability to bind CaM in the presence of Ca2+, and to purify it by CaM-affinity chromatography was retained, but the formation of GAD complexes larger than 340 kDa and enzyme activation by Ca2+/CaM were completely abolished. Hence, responsiveness to Ca2+/CaM is associated with the formation of protein complexes of 680 kDa, and requires some or all of the nine C-terminal amino acid residues. We suggest that evolution of plant GAD from a bacterial ancestral enzyme involved the formation of higher molecular weight complexes required for activation by Ca2+/CaM.

The root-specific glutamate decarboxylase (GAD1) is essential for sustaining GABA levels in Arabidopsis.

In plants, as in most eukaryotes, glutamate decarboxylase catalyses the synthesis of GABA. The Arabidopsis genome contains five glutamate decarboxylase genes and one of these genes (glutamate decarboxylase1; i.e. GAD1 ) is expressed specifically in roots. By isolating and analyzing three gad1 T-DNA insertion alleles, derived from two ecotypes, we investigated the potential role of GAD1 in GABA production. We also analyzed a promoter region of the GAD1 gene and show that it confers root-specific expression when fused to reporter genes. Phenotypic analysis of the gad1 insertion mutants revealed that GABA levels in roots were drastically reduced compared with those in the wild type. The roots of the wild type contained about sevenfold more GABA than roots of the mutants. Disruption of the GAD1 gene also prevented the accumulation of GABA in roots in response to heat stress. Our results show that the root-specific calcium/calmodulin-regulated GAD1 plays a major role in GABA synthesis in plants under normal growth conditions and in response to stress.

Flower development: initiation, differentiation, and diversification.

Flowering is one of the most intensively studied processes in plant development. Despite the wide diversity in floral forms, flowers have a simple stereotypical architecture. Flowers develop from florally determined meristems. These small populations of cells proliferate to form the floral organs, including the sterile outer organs, the sepals and petals, and the inner reproductive organs, the stamens and carpels. In the past decade, analyses of key flowering genes have been carried out primarily in Arabidopsis and have provided a foundation for understanding the underlying molecular genetic mechanisms controlling different aspects of floral development. Such studies have illuminated the transcriptional cascades responsible for the regulation of these key genes, as well as how these genes effect their functions. In turn, these studies have resulted in the refinement of the original ideas of how flowers develop and have indicated the gaps in our knowledge that need to be addressed.

Global identification of target genes regulated by APETALA3 and PISTILLATA floral homeotic gene action.

Identifying the genes regulated by the floral homeotic genes APETALA3 (AP3) and PISTILLATA (PI) is crucial for understanding the molecular mechanisms that lead to petal and stamen formation. We have used microarray analysis to conduct a broad survey of genes whose expression is affected by AP3 and PI activity. DNA microarrays consisting of 9216 Arabidopsis ESTs were screened with probes corresponding to mRNAs from different mutant and transgenic lines that misexpress AP3 and/or PI. The microarray results were further confirmed by RNA gel blot analyses. Our results suggest that AP3 and PI regulate a relatively small number of genes, implying that many genes used in petal and stamen development are not tissue specific and likely have roles in other processes as well. We recovered genes similar to previously identified petal- and stamen-expressed genes as well as genes that were not implicated previously in petal and stamen development. A very low percentage of the genes recovered encoded transcription factors. This finding suggests that AP3 and PI act relatively directly to regulate the genes required for the basic cellular processes responsible for petal and stamen morphogenesis.