No description available.

No description available.

Following previous studies, Asparagus officinalis single cell suspensions were hypothesized to be a rich source of wound-inducible mRNAs. A previously isolated clone, DDl-34, was shown to hybridize to wound-inducible transcript. This sequence was used to isolate the AoPR1 (Asparagus officinalis Pathogenesis Related cDNA clone 1). Data from the isolation and analysis of genomic clones hybridizing to DDl-34 probe suggested that these clones were unlikely to contain the upstream regulatory sequences of the AoPR1 gene and that the genomic arrangement of these sequences is complex. Inverse polymerase chain reactions (IPCR) were used to amplify AoPR1 genic sequences directly from the asparagus genome. Two products were cloned and sequenced, demonstrating that the correct sequences, upstream and downstream of the primers, had been amplified. The downstream IPCR product's sequence overlaps with AoPR1 coding sequence and contains an intron sequence. The upstream IPCR product partially overlaps with the start of AoPR1 coding sequence and was successfully used in transcript mapping experiments. Translational fusions were constructed between this fragment and the -glucuronidase (gus) reporter gene. GUS analysis demonstrated that this fragment, containing the AoPR1 promoter, was sufficient to drive wound-inducible transcription in transgenic tobacco. A smaller upstream fragment was insufficient to drive wound-inducible transcription. GUS expression was also detectable in tissues such as the xylem parenchyma, mature pollen and coloured regions of the petal. AoPR1-gus transgene expression correlates with the spatial expression patterns of phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway genes. The nature of the fusion suggested that the AoPR1 protein is intracellular. This is the first example of the cloning and analysis of a monocotyledon gene belonging to the 'intracellular pathogenesis related protein' class. The analysis and application of AoPR1 sequences are discussed.

No description available.

Redox reactions are an essential part of the cell’s metabolism, differentiation, and responses to the prevailing environmental conditions. In plants, dramatic changes in cellular redox status are observed upon exposure to environmental stresses, including pathogen attack. These changes affect the oxidative status of reactive cysteine thiols in regulatory proteins. To control oxidative protein modifications, plant cells employ the antioxidant enzymes S-nitrosoglutathione Reductase 1 (GSNOR1) and members of the Thioredoxin (TRX) superfamily. Immune signalling by the hormone salicylic acid (SA) is particularly dependent on the activity of these enzymes. SA is synthesized in response to challenge by plant pathogens for the establishment of local and systemic immunity. SA accumulation is regulated by cellular levels of S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO), a redox molecule capable of S-nitrosylating proteins (i.e., covalent attachment of nitric oxide to cysteines). GSNOR1 is thought to regulate cellular GSNO and global S-nitrosylation levels, but it is unknown how GSNOR1 regulates SA biosynthesis. Furthermore, SA recruits the activities of selected TRX enzymes that act as ubiquitous thiol reductases to counteract cysteine oxidation of SA-responsive regulatory proteins, thereby modulating their activities. However, it is unclear how SA controls nuclear redox processes involved in SAresponsive gene activation. Here we show that GSNOR1 regulates SA accumulation by regulating the expression of SA biosynthetic genes and their transcriptional activators. Moreover, we describe Nucleoredoxins (NRX) that represent novel, potentially nuclear localized members of the TRX superfamily. Mutant nrx1 plants displayed enhanced disease resistance, which was associated with enhanced expression of genes involved in synthesis of salicylic acid. Unlike classical TRX, NRX enzymes contain multiple active sites, suggesting they may exhibit significant reductase or remodelling activities. Indeed, insulin turbidity assays indicated that NRX proteins show an unusual form of disulphide reduction activity. Taken together, the data presented in this thesis demonstrate that GSNOR1 and NRX enzymes play critical roles in regulating synthesis of and signalling by SA in plant immunity.

Following pathogen recognition, nitric oxide (NO) is rapidly produced in plants, this small molecule has emerged as a key signal in plant defence responses. S-nitrosylation is the major route of NO signal transduction in plants, a redox-based modification by addition of an NO moiety on cysteine thiol to form an S-nitrosothiol (SNO). S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR) regulates cellular levels of S-nitrosylation and displays a key role in regulating the plant defence response. In this context, NO is important to orchestrate both defence gene expression and the hypersensitive response (HR) during attempted microbial infection. However, how the plant immune system recognizes NO and how NO level could elicit plant defence responses are poorly understood. The Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) mutant NO overproducing 1 (nox1) was employed to characterize how NO level elicits defence dynamics. In response to microbial infection, resistance (R) gene-mediated defence and basal resistance were found to be compromised in the nox1 mutant relative to wild type Col-0 plants. Interestingly, nox1 mutant exhibit similar levels of HR and pathogen susceptibility to the GSNOR loss-of-function mutant atgsnor1-3. This phenomenon suggests that NO might regulate defence responses via GSNOR-mediated S-nitrosylation. Therefore, the nox1 atgsnor1-3 double mutant was generated and characterized to clarify this hypothesis. Accelerated HR and increased pathogen susceptibility are shown in the double mutant, which implies that increased NO mediated by nox1 and elevated SNOs resulting from atgsnor1-3, are additive with respect to the plant defence response. To identify genes responsible for NO perception, forward genetic screens were developed to identify Arabidopsis mutants with abnormal NO recognition. NO marker genes for genetic screens were identified from both lab and open source microarray data. Two genes, At3g28740 and At1g76600 were selected and experimentally confirmed to be strongly induced by NO. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants were generated carrying a NO reporter cassette, which consist of a luciferase reporter gene (LUC) driven by the promoter of NO marker gene. This forward genetic approach might be a powerful tool to identify genes integral to NO signal transduction. Three C2H2 zinc finger transcription factors (ZnTFs) ZAT7, ZAT8 and ZAT12 were identified as being rapidly and strongly induced by NO donors, which could be modulators of redox/NO-dependent signalling pathway. T-DNA insertion mutants within these ZnTFs have been identified. Basal resistance against Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato (Pst) DC3000 is compromised in all single knockout lines. Therefore, the full characterisation of defence phenotype of these mutants would be necessary to explore the role of these TFs in the plant defence. Furthermore, zat8 mutant is more sensitive to nitrosative stress when compared to wild type Col-0. This suggests that ZAT8 may be involved in protecting plants against nitrosative stress. However, the molecular mechanisms that underpin this function remain to be determined. In conclusion, NO and SNOs might regulate plant disease resistance via distinct pathways. Our work has also established NO-reporter lines to identify genes responsible for NO perception. In addition, three NO-induced ZnTFs have been identified that participate in regulation of basal resistance, which might unveil aspects of NO signalling related to the regulation of transcription.

Nitric oxide (NO) as well as reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an important role in defence signalling in plants. After successful recognition of an invading pathogen, an increase in ROS occurs, the ’oxidative burst’; and a ’nitrosative burst’ is also observed. This leads to the induction of defence responses, including the ’hypersensitive response’ (HR), a form of programmed cell death. A balanced production of hydrogen peroxide and NO is crucial for HR induction. In a process called S-nitrosylation, NO can react with cysteine thiols to form S-nitrosothiols, or react with glutathione to form S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO). The enzyme GNSO reductase (GSNOR) indirectly regulates SNO levels by turning over GNSO. The Arabidopsis thaliana T-DNA insertion mutant atgsnor1-3 shows a complete loss of GNSOR activity and has drastically increased SNO levels, resulting in stunted growth, loss of apical dominance, increased HR, loss of salicylic acid (SA) accumulation and increased susceptibility to avirulent, virulent and non-host pathogens. Two recessive and allelic EMS suppressor mutants in the atgsnor1-3 background were isolated, which showed mostly wild type growth. The mutations were identified by map-based cloning as two different point mutations in At1g20620 or CAT3, one of three catalase genes in Arabidopsis. Catalases break down hydrogen peroxide, with CAT2 being the major catalase in Arabidopsis. All three catalases are structurally very similar, but show temporal and spatial differences in their expression patterns. The suppressor mutants recovered apical dominance, and partially recovered disease resistance to avirulent pathogens, but were still susceptible to virulent pathogens and showed decreased SA levels. The suppressor mutants showed wild type HR in response to different avirulent bacteria. Interestingly, loss-of-function of the other catalase genes as well as loss-of-function of other redox-related genes did not restore apical dominance of atgnsor1-3 plants. This effect seems to be highly specific to CAT3, possibly because of its expression pattern or its expression levels. Further research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms at work here, but these results certainly seem to show a direct connection between redox signalling and S-nitrosylation.

Le travail effectué au cours de cette thèse a permis une avancée importante dans la connaissance de l’élicitation des cellules de vigne. Nous avons étudié les effets de deux éliciteurs, le méthyljasmonate et la méthyl-β-cyclodextrine, employés seuls et en élicitation croisée sur des suspensions de cellules de vigne (porte-greffe 41B et Vitis labrusca), pour la production de stilbènes (resvératrol et viniférines). Ceci a permis d’atteindre des concentrations de resvératrol très élevées pour un métabolite secondaire et les relations entre la concentration d’éliciteur, la biomasse à l’inoculum et la durée de l’élicitation ont été étudiées. D’autre part, le travail a également porté sur le changement d’échelle quant à la culture cellulaire et son élicitation et sur le suivi de plusieurs phénomènes et paramètres (croissance cellulaire, consommation des sucres, production du resvératrol, suivi du taux d’oxygène dissous et du pH). Des essais en bioréacteur clos de 5L ont ainsi abouti à une production significative de resvératrol à cette échelle et ont permis l’élaboration de modèles cinétiques rendant compte de la croissance de la biomasse et de la production du resvératrol. Un autre aspect de l’étude s’est intéressé à la localisation intracellulaire de la synthèse du resvératrol. Les résultats obtenus par microscopie confocale ont confirmé que le resvératrol s’accumulait majoritairement dans la paroi de la cellule et dans des vésicules cytoplasmiques (organites sphériques présents à proximité de la paroi), avant d’être excrété dans le milieu de culture. Enfin, une démarche a été initiée en vue de la production d’autres métabolites à partir du resvératrol notamment l’ε-viniférine. / The work presented here addressed two main subjects, namely that of grapevine cells elicitation for the production of stilbenes (resveratrol and viniferins) and the scale up of such culture in bioreactors. Shake-flask cultures of grapevine (rootstock 41B and Vitis labrusca) were elicited with methyl jasmonate or methyl-β-cyclodextrin, alone or in combination. This resulted in a significant accumulation of resveratrol in the medium. The relationship between the production of resveratrol and factors such as the elicitor concentration, inoculation rate and the duration of elicitation phase were studied. The second part of this work was concerned with scale up of the culture from shake-flask to 5 L bioreactor. Several parameters were monitored such as cell growth, sugars consumption, resveratrol production, dissolved oxygen concentration and pH. Kinetic models explaining growth and resveratrol production were developed using the results from three bioreactor batches. Preliminary work was performed to initiate the study of metabolites related to resveratrol such as ε-viniferin. The study also completed previous work that looked at the localisation of resveratrol synthesis within the cells using confocal microscopy. The results confirmed that resveratrol was accumulated mainly in the cell wall and in the cytoplasmic vesicles before being excreted/secreted into the culture medium.

In the interactions between fungal endophytes and their hosts, the host may benefit through protection against pathogens and pests, growth promotion and tolerance to abiotic stresses. Non-pathogenic Fusarium oxysporum endophytes of banana have been shown to reduce the damage caused by the Cosmopolitus sordidus and the burrowing nematode Radopholus similis. The mode of protection against the burrowing nematode involves induced resistance, but the molecular basis of this resistance yet to be demonstrated. It has further been reported that protection of the host by multiple endophytes can lead to better control of target pests, probably because of the multiple modes of action involved. This phenomenon, however, has not been fully demonstrated for F. oxysporum endophytes of banana. This study aimed to investigate the molecular and biochemical basis of endophyte protection of East African Highland bananas (EAHB) against C. sordidus and R. similis. Expression of banana defence-related genes following endophyte inoculation and R. similis challenge varied greatly between the nematode-susceptible cv Nabusa and the nematode-tolerant cv Kayinja. In cv Nabusa, only the peroxidase (POX) and lectin genes were responsive to endophyte colonization of roots, or R. similis challenge. POX and lectin activities were significantly down-regulated 2 and 33 days after endophyte inoculation (dai), respectively. In cv Kayinja, endophyte colonization resulted in transient up-regulation of POX and a down-regulation of endochitinase (PR-3), lectin, pectin acetylesterase (PAE), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and PIR7A (peroxidase). Similar to systemic acquired resistance, PR-1 and catalase activities were up-regulated in the cv Kayinja 33 dai. Genes involved in signal transduction, cell wall strengthening, jasmonic acid pathway and defence molecule transport were differentially expressed in endophyte-inoculated plants. The expression profiles of four defence-related genes following endophyte inoculation and R. similis challenge were studied using quantitative real-time PCR. ABC transporter, Β-1,3-glucan synthase, coronatine insensitive 1 (COI1) and lipoxygenase (LOX) were up-regulated following endophyte inoculation. Β-1,3-glucan synthase and COI1 were highly up-regulated following R. similis challenge of endophyte-inoculated plants of the susceptible cv Nabusa, while COI1 and LOX were highly up-regulated following nematode challenge of endophyte-inoculated plants of the tolerant cv Kayinja. However ABC transporter gene activity was not up-regulated following nematode challenge of plants of both cultivars. UP-regulation of phenylpropanoid pathway enzymes PAL, POX and PPO has been observed in roots following colonization by both pathogenic and non-pathogenic fungi. In the current study, endophyte inoculation resulted in down-regulation of PAL activity in both a susceptible (cv Nabusa) and tolerant (cv Yangambi) banana. In cv Nabusa, endophyte inoculation primed PAL activity for up-regulation 30 days post nematode challenge (dpnc). However, in cv Yangambi PAL activity was up-regulated 7 dpnc irrespective of endophyte inoculation. Endophyte inoculation transiently up-regulated POX in cv Nabusa, but activity reduced to the levels in the controls 30 dai. Similar to PAL, R. similis challenge of endophyte-inoculated plants of Nabusa caused significant up-regulation of POX 7 dpnc. Nematode challenge of control plants of cv Yangambi resulted in a non-significant up-regulation of POX compared with non-challenged controls, but a significant up-regulation compared to all endophyte-inoculated plants. PPO activity was transiently up-regulated in cv Nabusa and down-regulated in cv Yangambi 7 dai. For all treatments, PPO activity was significantly reduced between 7 dai and 120 dai (60 dpnc). Fusarium oxysporum endophyte isolates Emb2.4o and V5w2 were successfully marked with benomyl- and chlorate resistance and transformed with fluorescent protein genes, while Eny1.31i, Eny7.11o and V4w5 were marked with benomyl resistance only. Most mutants and fluorescent protein transformants maintained resistance to the selective chemical on PDA and after plant colonization. Benomyl- and chlorate-resistant mutants were successfully used to determine actual plant colonization percentages by inoculated endophytes. Similarly, GFP transformants were successfully used to ascertain the pattern of endophytic root colonization in vivo. In plants dually inoculated with isolates Emb2.4o BR 8 and V5w2 CHR 9, both isolates were recovered from roots and rhizomes 4 weeks after inoculation, but isolate V5w2 CHR 9 proved a better colonizer of the two tissue types. Root colonization by isolate V5w2 CHR 9 was boosted when inoculated dually with Emb2.4o BR 8, while that by Emb2.4o BR 8 was reduced in the presence of V5w2 CHR 9. Where growth advantages were observed for dually inoculated plants, it occurred where plants were challenged with R. similis. In the absence of pests, control plants showed better growth than endophyte-inoculated plants. On the other hand, weevil challenge of control plants resulted in significant reductions in plant height, number of live roots and root fresh weight. Dual endophyte inoculation resulted in a significant reduction in R. similis populations in nematode only challenged plants, compared with plants inoculated with Emb2.4o BR 8 singly and control plants challenged with the nematode. In one replicate banana weevil damage to the outer and inner pseudostem base, and the inner rhizome were significantly reduced for dually-inoculated plants. Copyright / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Microbiology and Plant Pathology / unrestricted

Global environmental change fundamentally affects plants and their interactions with other species, and this has profound impacts on communities and ultimately ecosystems. In order to understand the mechanisms involved, we need to elaborate on the combined effects of different global change drivers on multiple levels of plant organization, including the biochemical level (production of defence compounds), the whole organism, the population, and the plant-herbivore interaction level. This thesis investigates (1) the combined effects of factors related to climate change and habitat fragmentation on Brassica nigra and (2) the effects of Zn soil pollution on the heavy metal hyperaccumulator Noccaea caerulescens at these different levels. Common garden and greenhouse experiments with B. nigra applied drought stress and elevated CO₂ to examine climate change impacts, while crossing treatments (inbreeding and between-population outbreeding) were used to investigate habitat fragmentation effects. Heterosis was lost under drought stress, and there were several interactive effects of the experimental treatments that varied within and among populations. In a greenhouse experiment with N. caerulescens, plants were grown on soil with different amounts of zinc. Plants had greater herbivore resistance when grown on Zn-amended soil, and invested more in herbivore tolerance when grown on soil without added Zn. In general, the results indicate that factors related to global environmental change have complex and interactive effects on different levels of plant organization. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for ecology, evolution and conservation.