Independent evolution of rosmarinic acid biosynthesis in two sister families under the Lamiids clade of flowering plants.

As a means to maintain their sessile lifestyle amid challenging environments, plants produce an enormous diversity of compounds as chemical defenses against biotic and abiotic insults. The underpinning metabolic pathways that support the biosynthesis of these specialized chemicals in divergent plant species provide a rich arena for understanding the molecular evolution of complex metabolic traits. Rosmarinic acid (RA) is a phenolic natural product first discovered in plants of the mint family (Lamiaceae) and is recognized for its wide range of medicinal properties and potential applications in human dietary and medical interventions. Interestingly, the RA chemotype is present sporadically in multiple taxa of flowering plants as well as some hornworts and ferns, prompting the question whether its biosynthesis arose independently across different lineages. Here we report the elucidation of the RA biosynthetic pathway in Phacelia campanularia (desert bells). This species represents the borage family (Boraginaceae), an RA-producing family closely related to the Lamiaceae within the Lamiids clade. Using a multi-omics approach in combination with functional characterization of candidate genes both in vitro and in vivo, we found that RA biosynthesis in P. campanularia involves specific activities of a BAHD acyltransferase and two cytochrome P450 hydroxylases. Further phylogenetic and comparative structure-function analyses of the P. campanularia RA biosynthetic enzymes clearly indicate that RA biosynthesis has evolved independently at least twice in the Lamiids, an exemplary case of chemotypic convergence through disparate evolutionary trajectories.

Recovery from heat, salt and osmotic stress in Physcomitrella patens requires a functional small heat shock protein PpHsp16.4.

BACKGROUND: Plant small heat shock proteins (sHsps) accumulate in response to various environmental stresses, including heat, drought, salt and oxidative stress. Numerous studies suggest a role for these proteins in stress tolerance by preventing stress-induced protein aggregation as well as by facilitating protein refolding by other chaperones. However, in vivo evidence for the involvement of sHsps in tolerance to different stress factors is still missing, mainly due to the lack of appropriate mutants in specific sHsp genes. RESULTS: In this study we characterized the function of a sHsp in abiotic stress tolerance in the moss Physcomitrella patens, a model for primitive land plants. Using suppression subtractive hybridization, we isolated an abscisic acid-upregulated gene from P. patens encoding a 16.4 kDa cytosolic class II sHsp. PpHsp16.4 was also induced by salicylic acid, dithiothreitol (DTT) and by exposure to various stimuli, including osmotic and salt stress, but not by oxidative stress-inducing compounds. Expression of the gene was maintained upon stress relief, suggesting a role for this protein in the recovery stage. PpHsp16.4 is encoded by two identical genes arranged in tandem in the genome. Targeted disruption of both genes resulted in the inability of plants to recover from heat, salt and osmotic stress. In vivo localization studies revealed that PpHsp16.4 localized in cytosolic granules in the vicinity of chloroplasts under non stress conditions, suggesting possible distinct roles for this protein under stress and optimal growth. CONCLUSIONS: We identified a member of the class II sHsp family that showed hormonal and abiotic stress gene regulation. Induction of the gene by DTT treatment suggests that damaged proteins may act as signals for the stress-induction of PpHsp16.4. The product of this gene was shown to localize in cytosolic granules near the chloroplasts, suggesting a role for the protein in association with these organelles. Our study provides the first direct genetic evidence for a role of a sHsp in osmotic and salt stress tolerance, and supports a function for this protein particularly during the stress recovery stage of P. patens.

PBS3 and EPS1 Complete Salicylic Acid Biosynthesis from Isochorismate in Arabidopsis.

Salicylic acid (SA) is an important phytohormone mediating both local and systemic defense responses in plants. Despite over half a century of research, how plants biosynthesize SA remains unresolved. In Arabidopsis, a major part of SA is derived from isochorismate, a key intermediate produced by the isochorismate synthase, which is reminiscent of SA biosynthesis in bacteria. Whereas bacteria employ an isochorismate pyruvate lyase (IPL) that catalyzes the turnover of isochorismate to pyruvate and SA, plants do not contain an IPL ortholog and generate SA from isochorismate through an unknown mechanism. Combining genetic and biochemical approaches, we delineated the SA biosynthetic pathway downstream of isochorismate in Arabidopsis. We found that PBS3, a GH3 acyl adenylase-family enzyme important for SA accumulation, catalyzes ATP- and Mg2+-dependent conjugation of L-glutamate primarily to the 8-carboxyl of isochorismate and yields the key SA biosynthetic intermediate, isochorismoyl-glutamate A. Moreover, we discovered that EPS1, a BAHD acyltransferase-family protein with a previously implicated role in SA accumulation upon pathogen attack, harbors a noncanonical active site and an unprecedented isochorismoyl-glutamate A pyruvoyl-glutamate lyase activity that produces SA from the isochorismoyl-glutamate A substrate. Together, PBS3 and EPS1 form a two-step metabolic pathway to produce SA from isochorismate in Arabidopsis, which is distinct from how SA is biosynthesized in bacteria. This study closes a major knowledge gap in plant SA metabolism and would help develop new strategies for engineering disease resistance in crop plants.

Complete Pathway Elucidation and Heterologous Reconstitution of Rhodiola Salidroside Biosynthesis.

Salidroside is a bioactive tyrosine-derived phenolic natural product found in medicinal plants under the Rhodiola genus. In addition to their anti-fatigue and anti-anoxia roles in traditional medicine, Rhodiola total extract and salidroside have also displayed medicinal properties as anti-cardiovascular diseases and anti-cancer agents. The resulting surge in global demand of Rhodiola plants and salidroside has driven some species close to extinction. Here, we report the full elucidation of the Rhodiola salidroside biosynthetic pathway utilizing the first comprehensive transcriptomics and metabolomics datasets for Rhodiola rosea. Unlike the previously proposed pathway involving separate decarboxylation and deamination enzymatic steps from tyrosine to the key intermediate 4-hydroxyphenylacetaldehyde (4-HPAA), Rhodiola contains a pyridoxal phosphate-dependent 4-HPAA synthase that directly converts tyrosine to 4-HPAA. We further identified genes encoding the subsequent 4-HPAA reductase and tyrosol:UDP-glucose 8-O-glucosyltransferase, respectively, to complete salidroside biosynthesis in Rhodiola. We show that heterologous production of salidroside can be achieved in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as well as the plant Nicotiana benthamiana through transgenic expression of Rhodiola salidroside biosynthetic genes. This study provides new tools for engineering sustainable production of salidroside in heterologous hosts.

Differential contribution of individual dehydrin genes from Physcomitrella patens to salt and osmotic stress tolerance.

The moss Physcomitrella patens can withstand extreme environmental conditions including drought and salt stress. Tolerance to dehydration in mosses is thought to rely on efficient limitation of stress-induced cell damage and repair of cell injury upon stress relief. Dehydrin proteins (DHNs) are part of a conserved cell protecting mechanism in plants although their role in stress tolerance is not well understood. Four DHNs and two DHN-like proteins were identified in the predicted proteome of P. patens. Expression of PpDHNA and PpDHNB was induced by salt and osmotic stress and controlled by abscisic acid. Subcellular localization of the encoded proteins suggested that these dehydrins are localized in cytosol and accumulate near membranes during stress. Comparative analysis of dhnA and dhnB targeted knockout mutants of P. patens revealed that both genes play a role in cellular protection during salt and osmotic stress, although PpDHNA has a higher contribution to stress tolerance. Overexpression of PpDHNA and PpDHNB genes in transgenic Arabidopsis improved rosette and root growth in stress conditions, although PpDHNA was more efficient in this role. These results suggest that specific DHNs contribute considerably to the high stress tolerance of mosses and offer novel tools for genetic engineering stress tolerance of higher plants.

Comparison between NuGEN's WT-Ovation Pico and one-direct amplification systems.

Differential gene expression between groups of homogenous cell types is a biological question whose time has come. RNA can be extracted from small numbers of cells, such as those isolated by laser-capture microdissection, but the small amounts obtained often require amplification to enable whole genome transcriptome profiling by technologies such as microarray analysis and RNA-seq. Recently, advances in amplification procedures make amplification directly from whole cell lysates possible. The aim of this study was to compare two amplification systems for variations in observed RNA abundance attributable to the amplification procedure for use with small quantities of cells isolated by laser-capture microdissection. Arabidopsis root cells undergoing giant cell formation as a result of nematode infestation and uninfested control root cells were laser-captured and used to evaluate two amplification systems. One, NuGEN's WT-Ovation Pico (Pico) amplification system, uses total RNA as starting material, and the other, NuGEN's WT-One-Direct (One-Direct) amplification system, uses lysate containing the captured cells. The reproducibility of whole genome transcript profiling and correlations of both systems were investigated after microarray analysis. The One-Direct system was less reproducible and more variable than the Pico system. The Pico amplification kit resulted in the detection of thousands of differentially expressed genes between giant cells and control cells. This is in marked contrast to the relatively few genes detected after amplification with the One-Direct amplification kit.

A dehydrin gene in Physcomitrella patens is required for salt and osmotic stress tolerance.

We isolated a dehydrin-like (DHN-like) gene fragment, PpDHNA, from the moss Physcomitrella patens by PCR amplification using degenerate primers directed against conserved amino acid segments of DHNs of higher plants. The full-length cDNA was found to encode a 59.2-kDa glycine-rich protein, DHNA, with typical characteristics of DHNs, including the presence of several Y repeats and one conserved K segment. DHNA had a high sequence similarity with a protein from Tortula ruralis, Tr288, which is thought to be involved in cellular dehydration tolerance/repair in this moss. Northern and Western analysis showed that PpDHNA is upregulated upon treatment of plants with abscisic acid, NaCl or mannitol, indicating a similar expression pattern to DHNs from higher plants. To analyze the contribution of DHNA to osmotic stress tolerance, we generated a knockout mutant (dhnA) by disruption of the gene using homologous recombination. Growth and stress response studies of the mutant showed that dhnA was severely impaired in its capacity to resume growth after salt and osmotic-stress treatments. We provide direct genetic evidence in any plant species for a DHN exerting a protective role during cellular dehydration allowing recovery when returned to optimal growth conditions.