Low concentrations of the toxin ophiobolin A lead to an arrest of the cell cycle and alter the intracellular partitioning of glutathione between the nuclei and cytoplasm.

Ophiobolin A, a tetracyclic sesterpenoid produced by phytopathogenic fungi, is responsible for catastrophic losses in crop yield but its mechanism of action is not understood. The effects of ophiobolin A were therefore investigated on the growth and redox metabolism of Tobacco Bright Yellow-2 (TBY-2) cell cultures by applying concentrations of the toxin that did not promote cell death. At concentrations between 2 and 5 µM, ophiobolin A inhibited growth and proliferation of the TBY-2 cells, which remained viable. Microscopic and cytofluorimetric analyses showed that ophiobolin A treatment caused a rapid decrease in mitotic index, with a lower percentage of the cells at G1 and increased numbers of cells at the S/G2 phases. Cell size was not changed following treatment suggesting that the arrest of cell cycle progression was not the result of a block on cell growth. The characteristic glutathione redox state and the localization of glutathione in the nucleus during cell proliferation were not changed by ophiobolin A. However, subsequent decreases in glutathione and the re-distribution of glutathione between the cytoplasm and nuclei after mitosis occurring in control cells, as well as the profile of glutathionylated proteins, were changed in the presence of the toxin. The profile of poly ADP-ribosylated proteins were also modified by ophiobolin A. Taken together, these data provide evidence of the mechanism of ophiobolin A action as a cell cycle inhibitor and further demonstrate the link between nuclear glutathione and the cell cycle regulation, suggesting that glutathione-dependent redox controls in the nuclei prior to cell division are of pivotal importance.

Downregulation of the basic peroxidase isoenzyme from Zinnia elegans by gibberellic acid.

Hypocotyl formation during the epigeal germination of seedlings is under strict hormonal regulation. In a 3 d old Zinnia elegans seedling system, gibberellic acid (GA(3)) exerts an opposite effect to that exerted by light on hypocotyl photomorphogenesis because GA(3) promotes an etiolated-like growth with an inhibition of radial (secondary) growth. For this reason, the effect of GA(3) on the basic peroxidase isoenzyme from Z. elegans (ZePrx), an enzyme involved in hypocotyl lignin biosynthesis, was studied. The results showed that GA(3) reduces ZePrx activity, similarly to the way in which it reduces seedling secondary growth. This hormonal response is supported by the analysis of the ZePrx promoter, which contains four types of GA(3)-responsive cis-elements: the W Box/O2S; the Pyr Box; the GARE; and the Amy Box. Taken together, these results suggest that ZePrx is directly regulated by GA(3), with this effect matching the inhibitory effect of GA on the hypocotyl secondary growth.

Analysis of the soluble cell wall proteome of gymnosperms.

We analyzed the cell wall proteome of lignifying suspension cell cultures (SCCs) from four gymnosperms that differ in evolution degree. This analysis showed the presence of "peptide sequence tags" (PSTs) corresponding to glucan endo-1,3-beta-D-glucosidase, xyloglucan-endotrans-glucosylase/hydrolase, chitinases, thaumatin-like proteins and proteins involved in lignin/lignan biosynthesis, such as dirigent-like proteins and peroxidases. Surprisingly, and given the abundance of peroxidases in the cell wall proteome of these gymnosperms, PSTs corresponding to peroxidases were only detected in tryptic fragments of the cell wall proteome of Cycas revoluta. The current lack of knowledge regarding C. revoluta peroxidases led us to purify, characterize and partially sequence the peroxidases responsible for lignin biosynthesis in this species. This yielded three peroxidase-enriched fractions: CrPrx 1, CrPrx 2 and CrPrx 3. Analyses of tryptic peptides of CrPrx 2 (32kDa) and CrPrx 3 (26kDa) suggest that CrPrx 3 arises from CrPrx 2 by protein truncation, and that CrPrx 3 apparently constitutes a post-translational modification of CrPrx 2. That CrPrx 2 and CrPrx 3 are apparently the same enzyme was also deduced from the similarity between the k(cat) shown by both peroxidases for the three monolignols. These results emphasize the analogies between the cell wall proteome of gymnosperms and angiosperms, the complexity of the peroxidase proteome, and the difficulties involved in establishing fine structure-function relationships.

The presence of sinapyl lignin in Ginkgo biloba cell cultures changes our views of the evolution of lignin biosynthesis.

Suspension cell cultures (SCCs) from one of the oldest seed plants, Ginkgo biloba, show unpredictable alterations in the nature of the lignins, such as is the recruitment of sinapyl alcohol for lignin biosynthesis, compared with the woody tissues of the same species, which lack syringyl (S) lignins. These results show that, in this gymnosperm, the genes involved in sinapyl alcohol biosynthesis are latent and that their regulatory regions respond, by initiating gene expression, to the developmental signals and the environmental clues, which condition its in vitro culture. G. biloba SCCs not only synthesize S lignins but also their extracellular proteome contains both class III peroxidases capable of oxidizing sinapyl alcohol and enzymes involved in H2O2 production, observation which suggests that the peroxidase branch for the oxidative coupling of sinapyl alcohol units into lignins is operative. The incomplete knowledge of the G. biloba peroxidase-encoding genes led us to purify, characterize and partially sequence the peroxidase responsible for monolignol oxidation. When the major peroxidase from G. biloba SCCs (GbPrx) was purified to homogeneity, it showed absorption maxima in the visible region at 414 (Soret band), and at 543 and 570 nm, which calls to mind those shown by low-spin ferric peroxidases. However, the results also showed that the paraperoxidase-like character of GbPrx is not an obstacle for oxidizing the three monolignols compared with high-spin ferric peroxidases. Taken together, these results mean that the time at which the evolutionary gain of the segment of the route that leads to the biosynthesis of S lignins took place in seed plants needs to be revised.