Overexpression of stress granule protein TZF1 enhances salt stress tolerance by targeting ACA11 mRNA for degradation in Arabidopsis.

Tandem CCCH zinc finger (TZF) proteins play diverse roles in plant growth and stress response. Although as many as 11 TZF proteins have been identified in Arabidopsis, little is known about the mechanism by which TZF proteins select and regulate the target mRNAs. Here, we report that Arabidopsis TZF1 is a bona-fide stress granule protein. Ectopic expression of TZF1 (TZF1 OE), but not an mRNA binding-defective mutant (TZF1H186Y OE), enhances salt stress tolerance in Arabidopsis. RNA-seq analyses of NaCl-treated plants revealed that the down-regulated genes in TZF1 OE plants are enriched for functions in salt and oxidative stress responses. Because many of these down-regulated mRNAs contain AU- and/or U-rich elements (AREs and/or UREs) in their 3'-UTRs, we hypothesized that TZF1-ARE/URE interaction might contribute to the observed gene expression changes. Results from RNA immunoprecipitation-quantitative PCR analysis, gel-shift, and mRNA half-life assays indicate that TZF1 binds and triggers degradation of the autoinhibited Ca2+-ATPase 11 (ACA11) mRNA, which encodes a tonoplast-localized calcium pump that extrudes calcium and dampens signal transduction pathways necessary for salt stress tolerance. Furthermore, this salt stress-tolerance phenotype was recapitulated in aca11 null mutants. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that TZF1 binds and initiates degradation of specific mRNAs to enhance salt stress tolerance.

Plant-exclusive domain of trans-editing enzyme ProXp-ala confers dimerization and enhanced tRNA binding.

Faithful translation of the genetic code is critical for the viability of all living organisms. The trans-editing enzyme ProXp-ala prevents Pro to Ala mutations during translation by hydrolyzing misacylated Ala-tRNAPro that has been synthesized by prolyl-tRNA synthetase. Plant ProXp-ala sequences contain a conserved C-terminal domain (CTD) that is absent in other organisms; the origin, structure, and function of this extra domain are unknown. To characterize the plant-specific CTD, we performed bioinformatics and computational analyses that provided a model consistent with a conserved α-helical structure. We also expressed and purified wildtype Arabidopsis thaliana (At) ProXp-ala in Escherichia coli, as well as variants lacking the CTD or containing only the CTD. Circular dichroism spectroscopy confirmed a loss of α-helical signal intensity upon CTD truncation. Size-exclusion chromatography with multiangle laser-light scattering revealed that wildtype At ProXp-ala was primarily dimeric and CTD truncation abolished dimerization in vitro. Furthermore, bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays in At protoplasts support a role for the CTD in homodimerization in vivo. The deacylation rate of Ala-tRNAPro by At ProXp-ala was also significantly reduced in the absence of the CTD, and kinetic assays indicated that the reduction in activity is primarily due to a tRNA binding defect. Overall, these results broaden our understanding of eukaryotic translational fidelity in the plant kingdom. Our study reveals that the plant-specific CTD plays a significant role in substrate binding and canonical editing function. Through its ability to facilitate protein-protein interactions, we propose the CTD may also provide expanded functional potential for trans-editing enzymes in plants.

SMALL AUXIN UP RNA62/75 Are Required for the Translation of Transcripts Essential for Pollen Tube Growth.

Successful pollen tube elongation is critical for double fertilization, but the biological functions of pollen tube genes and the regulatory machinery underlying this crucial process are largely unknown. A previous translatomic study revealed two Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) SAUR (SMALL AUXIN UP RNA) genes, SAUR62 and SAUR75, whose expression is up-regulated by pollination. Here, we found that both SAUR62 and SAUR75 localized mainly to pollen tube nuclei. The siliques of homozygous saur62 (saur62/-), saur75 (saur75/-), and the SAUR62/75 RNA interference (RNAi) knockdown line had many aborted seeds. These lines had normal pollen viability but defective in vitro and in vivo pollen tube growth, with branching phenotypes. Immunoprecipitation with transgenic SAUR62/75-GFP flowers revealed ribosomal protein RPL12 family members as potential interacting partners, and their individual interactions were confirmed further by yeast two-hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays. Polysome profiling showed reduced 80S ribosome abundance in homozygous saur62, saur75, ribosomal large subunit12c, and SAUR62/75 RNAi flowers, suggesting that SAUR62/75 play roles in ribosome assembly. To clarify their roles in translation, we analyzed total proteins from RNAi versus wild-type flowers by isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation, revealing significantly reduced expression of factors participating in pollen tube wall biogenesis and F-actin dynamics, which are critical for the elastic properties of tube elongation. Indeed, RNAi pollen tubes showed mislocalization of deesterified and esterified pectins and F-actin organization. Thus, the biological roles of SAUR62/75 and their RPL12 partners are critical in ribosomal pre-60S subunit assembly for efficient pollen tube elongation and subsequent fertilization.

Overexpression of a constitutively active truncated form of OsCDPK1 confers disease resistance by affecting OsPR10a expression in rice.

The rice pathogenesis-related protein OsPR10a was scarcely expressed in OsCDPK1-silenced (Ri-1) rice, which was highly sensitive to pathogen infection. After inoculating the leaves with bacterial blight (Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae; Xoo), we found that the expression of OsPR10a was up- and down-regulated in OEtr-1 (overexpression of the constitutively active truncated form of OsCDPK1) and Ri-1 rice plants, respectively. OsPR10a and OsCDPK1 showed corresponding expression patterns and were up-regulated in response to the jasmonic acid, salicylic acid and Xoo treatments, and OsPR1 and OsPR4 were significantly up-regulated in OEtr-1. These results suggest that OsCDPK1 may be an upstream regulator involved in rice innate immunity and conferred broad-spectrum of disease resistance. Following the Xoo inoculation, the OEtr-1 and Ri-1 seedlings showed enhanced and reduced disease resistance, respectively. The dihybrid rice Ri-1/OsPR10a-Ox not only bypassed the effect of OsCDPK1 silencing on the susceptibility to Xoo but also showed enhanced disease resistance and, consistent with Ri-1 phenotypes, increased plant height and grain size. Our results reveal that OsCDPK1 plays novel key roles in the cross-talk and mediation of the balance between stress response and development and provides a clue for improving grain yield and disease resistance simultaneously in rice.

Multiple Patterns of Regulation and Overexpression of a Ribonuclease-Like Pathogenesis-Related Protein Gene, OsPR10a, Conferring Disease Resistance in Rice and Arabidopsis.

An abundant 17 kDa RNase, encoded by OsPR10a (also known as PBZ1), was purified from Pi-starved rice suspension-cultured cells. Biochemical analysis showed that the range of optimal temperature for its RNase activity was 40-70°C and the optimum pH was 5.0. Disulfide bond formation and divalent metal ion Mg2+ were required for the RNase activity. The expression of OsPR10a::GUS in transgenic rice was induced upon phosphate (Pi) starvation, wounding, infection by the pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), leaf senescence, anther, style, the style-ovary junction, germinating embryo and shoot. We also provide first evidence in whole-plant system, demonstrated that OsPR10a-overexpressing in rice and Arabidopsis conferred significant level of enhanced resistance to infection by the pathogen Xoo and Xanthomona campestris pv. campestris (Xcc), respectively. Transgenic rice and Arabidopsis overexpressing OsPR10a significantly increased the length of primary root under phosphate deficiency (-Pi) condition. These results showed that OsPR10a might play multiple roles in phosphate recycling in phosphate-starved cells and senescing leaves, and could improve resistance to pathogen infection and/or against chewing insect pests. It is possible that Pi acquisition or homeostasis is associated with plant disease resistance. Our findings suggest that gene regulation of OsPR10a could act as a good model system to unravel the mechanisms behind the correlation between Pi starvation and plant-pathogen interactions, and also provides a potential application in crops disease resistance.

Sugar starvation- and GA-inducible calcium-dependent protein kinase 1 feedback regulates GA biosynthesis and activates a 14-3-3 protein to confer drought tolerance in rice seedlings.

Germination followed by seedling growth constitutes two essential steps in the initiation of a new life cycle in plants, and in cereals, completion of these steps is regulated by sugar starvation and the hormone gibberellin. A calcium-dependent protein kinase 1 gene (OsCDPK1) was identified by differential screening of a cDNA library derived from sucrose-starved rice suspension cells. The expression of OsCDPK1 was found to be specifically activated by sucrose starvation among several stress conditions tested as well as activated transiently during post-germination seedling growth. In gain- and loss-of-function studies performed with transgenic rice overexpressing a constitutively active or RNA interference gene knockdown construct, respectively, OsCDPK1 was found to negatively regulate the expression of enzymes essential for GA biosynthesis. In contrast, OsCDPK1 activated the expression of a 14-3-3 protein, GF14c. Overexpression of either constitutively active OsCDPK1 or GF14c enhanced drought tolerance in transgenic rice seedlings. Hence, our studies demonstrated that OsCDPK1 transduces the post-germination Ca(2+) signal derived from sugar starvation and GA, refines the endogenous GA concentration and prevents drought stress injury, all essential functions to seedling development at the beginning of the life cycle in rice.