Identification of Tea Plant Purple Acid Phosphatase Genes and Their Expression Responses to Excess Iron.

Purple acid phosphatase (PAP) encoding genes are a multigene family. PAPs require iron (Fe) to exert their functions that are involved in diverse biological roles including Fe homeostasis. However, the possible roles of PAPs in response to excess Fe remain unknown. In this study, we attempted to understand the regulation of PAPs by excess Fe in tea plant (Camellia sinensis). A genome-wide investigation of PAP encoding genes identified 19 CsPAP members based on the conserved motifs. The phylogenetic analysis showed that PAPs could be clustered into four groups, of which group II contained two specific cysteine-containing motifs "GGECGV" and "YERTC". To explore the expression patterns of CsPAP genes in response to excessive Fe supply, RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) analyses were performed to compare their transcript abundances between tea plants that are grown under normal and high iron conditions, respectively. 17 members were shown to be transcribed in both roots and leaves. When supplied with a high amount of iron, the expression levels of four genes were significantly changed. Of which, CsPAP15a, CsPAP23 and CsPAP27c were shown as downregulated, while the highly expressed CsPAP10a was upregulated. Moreover, CsPAP23 was found to be alternatively spliced, suggesting its post-transcriptional regulation. The present work implicates that some CsPAP genes could be associated with the responses of tea plants to the iron regime, which may offer a new direction towards a further understanding of iron homeostasis and provide the potential approaches for crop improvement in terms of iron biofortification.

Defense and senescence interplay in legume nodules.

Immunity and senescence play a crucial role in the functioning of the legume symbiotic nodules. The miss-regulation of one of these processes compromises the symbiosis leading to death of the endosymbiont and the arrest of the nodule functioning. The relationship between immunity and senescence has been extensively studied in plant organs where a synergistic response can be observed. However, the interplay between immunity and senescence in the symbiotic organ is poorly discussed in the literature and these phenomena are often mixed up. Recent studies revealed that the cooperation between immunity and senescence is not always observed in the nodule, suggesting complex interactions between these two processes within the symbiotic organ. Here, we discuss recent results on the interplay between immunity and senescence in the nodule and the specificities of this relationship during legume-rhizobium symbiosis.