DnaJ molecules as potential effectors in Meloidogyne arenaria. An unexplored group of proteins in plant parasitic nematodes.

Plant pathogenic organisms secrete proteins called effectors that recognize, infect and promote disease within host cells. Bacteria, like Pseudomona syringae, use effectors with DnaJ function to disrupt plant defenses. DnaJ proteins (also called Hsp40) are a group of co-chaperone molecules, which assist in the folding of proteins. Despite the described role of DnaJs as effectors in several groups of pathogens, this group of proteins has never been correlated with the infection process in plant parasitic nematodes. In this study, we analyze the importance of DnaJ for plant parasitic nematodes. To do that, we compare the number of DnaJ proteins in nematodes with different lifestyles. Then, we predict the secreted DnaJ proteins in order to detect effector candidates. We found that Meloidogyne species have more secreted DnaJs than the rest of the nematodes analyzed in the study. Particularly, M. arenaria possess the highest proportion of secreted DnaJ sequences in comparison to total DnaJ proteins. Furthermore, we found in this species at least five sequences with a putative nuclear localization signal, three of them with a serine rich region with an unknown function. Then, we chose one of these sequences (MG599854) to perform an expression analysis. We found that MG599854 is over-expressed from 3 days post inoculation onwards in tomato plants. Moreover, MG599854 seems to be enough to produce cell death in Nicotiana benthamiana under transient expression conditions. In concordance with our results, we propose that DnaJ proteins are a potential source of effector proteins in plant parasitic nematodes.

Increased leaf mesophyll porosity following transient retinoblastoma-related protein silencing is revealed by microcomputed tomography imaging and leads to a system-level physiological response to the altered cell division pattern.

The causal relationship between cell division and growth in plants is complex. Although altered expression of cell-cycle genes frequently leads to altered organ growth, there are many examples where manipulation of the division machinery leads to a limited outcome at the level of organ form, despite changes in constituent cell size. One possibility, which has been under-explored, is that altered division patterns resulting from manipulation of cell-cycle gene expression alter the physiology of the organ, and that this has an effect on growth. We performed a series of experiments on retinoblastoma-related protein (RBR), a well characterized regulator of the cell cycle, to investigate the outcome of altered cell division on leaf physiology. Our approach involved combination of high-resolution microCT imaging and physiological analysis with a transient gene induction system, providing a powerful approach for the study of developmental physiology. Our investigation identifies a new role for RBR in mesophyll differentiation that affects tissue porosity and the distribution of air space within the leaf. The data demonstrate the importance of RBR in early leaf development and the extent to which physiology adapts to modified cellular architecture resulting from altered cell-cycle gene expression.

Inducible repression of multiple expansin genes leads to growth suppression during leaf development.

Expansins are cell wall proteins implicated in the control of plant growth via loosening of the extracellular matrix. They are encoded by a large gene family, and data linked to loss of single gene function to support a role of expansins in leaf growth remain limited. Here, we provide a quantitative growth analysis of transgenics containing an inducible artificial microRNA construct designed to down-regulate the expression of a number of expansin genes that an expression analysis indicated are expressed during the development of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) leaf 6. The results support the hypothesis that expansins are required for leaf growth and show that decreased expansin gene expression leads to a more marked repression of growth during the later stage of leaf development. In addition, a histological analysis of leaves in which expansin gene expression was suppressed indicates that, despite smaller leaves, mean cell size was increased. These data provide functional evidence for a role of expansins in leaf growth, indicate the importance of tissue/organ developmental context for the outcome of altered expansin gene expression, and highlight the separation of the outcome of expansin gene expression at the cellular and organ levels.

The Arabidopsis SOC1-like genes AGL42, AGL71 and AGL72 promote flowering in the shoot apical and axillary meristems.

The floral transition is the switch from vegetative development to flowering. Proper timing of the floral transition is regulated by different pathways and is critical for the reproductive success of plants. Some of the flowering pathways are controlled by environmental signals such as photoperiod and vernalization, others by autonomous signals such as the developmental state of the plant and hormones, particularly gibberellin. SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CO 1 (SOC1) acts in Arabidopsis as an integrative centre of these pathways, promoting the floral transition. In this work, we show that AGAMOUS-LIKE 42 (AGL42), AGAMOUS-LIKE 71 (AGL71) and AGAMOUS-LIKE 72 (AGL72), which encode MADS-box transcription factors phylogenetically closely related to SOC1, are also involved in the floral transition. They promote flowering at the shoot apical and axillary meristems and seem to act through a gibberellin-dependent pathway. Furthermore SOC1 directly controls the expression of AGL42, AGL71 and AGL72 to balance the expression level of these SOC1-like genes. Our data reveal roles for AGL42, AGL71 and AGL72 in the floral transition, demonstrate their genetic interactions with SOC1 and suggest that their roles differ in the apical and axillary meristems.

The Arabidopsis floral meristem identity genes AP1, AGL24 and SVP directly repress class B and C floral homeotic genes.

During the initial stages of flower development, floral meristems increase in size without the formation of floral organs. When a critical meristem size is reached, the floral meristem begins to develop the floral organs. The first stages of flower development are characterized by the expression of genes such as Apetala 1 (AP1), cauliflower (CAL), AGAMOUS-LIKE 24 (AGL24) and short vegetative phase (SVP). We have shown that AP1, AGL24 and SVP act redundantly to control the identity of the floral meristem and to repress expression of class B, C and E genes. Recently, it was shown that class E gene repression was direct and established by two independent pathways. We show here that repression of class B and C genes is also directly established by a co-repressor complex that comprises LEUNIG (LUG), SEUSS (SEU) and the MADS box dimers AP1-AGL24 and AP1-SVP. Furthermore, we show that the distantly related suppressor of overexpression of CO 1 (SOC1) MADS box gene can complement for the loss of AGL24 and SVP activity; however, under normal conditions, this transcription factor does not play a role during the early stages of flower development.