RESUMO
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+ ) is an essential coenzyme required for all living organisms. In eukaryotic cells, the final step of NAD+ biosynthesis is exclusively cytosolic. Hence, NAD+ must be imported into organelles to support their metabolic functions. Three NAD+ transporters belonging to the mitochondrial carrier family (MCF) have been biochemically characterized in plants. AtNDT1 (At2g47490), focus of the current study, AtNDT2 (At1g25380), targeted to the inner mitochondrial membrane, and AtPXN (At2g39970), located in the peroxisomal membrane. Although AtNDT1 was presumed to reside in the chloroplast membrane, subcellular localization experiments with green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusions revealed that AtNDT1 locates exclusively in the mitochondrial membrane in stably transformed Arabidopsis plants. To understand the biological function of AtNDT1 in Arabidopsis, three transgenic lines containing an antisense construct of AtNDT1 under the control of the 35S promoter alongside a T-DNA insertional line were evaluated. Plants with reduced AtNDT1 expression displayed lower pollen viability, silique length, and higher rate of seed abortion. Furthermore, these plants also exhibited an increased leaf number and leaf area concomitant with higher photosynthetic rates and higher levels of sucrose and starch. Therefore, lower expression of AtNDT1 was associated with enhanced vegetative growth but severe impairment of the reproductive stage. These results are discussed in the context of the mitochondrial localization of AtNDT1 and its important role in the cellular NAD+ homeostasis for both metabolic and developmental processes in plants.
Assuntos
Antiporters/metabolismo , Proteínas de Arabidopsis/metabolismo , Arabidopsis/genética , Regulação da Expressão Gênica de Plantas , NAD/metabolismo , Antiporters/genética , Arabidopsis/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Arabidopsis/fisiologia , Proteínas de Arabidopsis/genética , Transporte Biológico , Proteínas de Transporte/genética , Proteínas de Transporte/metabolismo , Cloroplastos/metabolismo , Citosol/metabolismo , Proteínas de Fluorescência Verde , Homeostase , Mitocôndrias/metabolismo , Proteínas Mitocondriais/genética , Proteínas Mitocondriais/metabolismo , Mutagênese Insercional , Proteínas de Transporte de Nucleotídeos , Peroxissomos/metabolismo , Folhas de Planta/genética , Folhas de Planta/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Folhas de Planta/fisiologia , Pólen/genética , Pólen/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Pólen/fisiologia , Amido/metabolismoRESUMO
The NSP-interacting kinase, NIK, belongs to the five leucine-rich repeats-containing receptor-like serine/threonine kinase subfamily that includes members involved in plant development and defence. NIK was first identified by its capacity to interact with the geminivirus nuclear shuttle protein (NSP) and has been strongly associated with plant defence against geminivirus. Recent studies corroborate its function in transducing a defence signal against virus infection and describe components of the NIK-mediated antiviral signalling pathway. This mini-review describes the role of NIK as a transducer of a novel layer of plant innate defence, presents new data on NIK function, and discusses its possible involvement in plant development.