Transport processes of solutes across the vacuolar membrane of higher plants

The plant homolog to the human sodium/dicarboxylic cotransporter is the vacuolar malate carrier

Malate plays a central role in plant metabolism. It is an intermediate in the Krebs and glyoxylate cycles, it is the store for CO2 in C4 and crassulacean acid metabolism plants, it protects plants from aluminum toxicity, it is essential for maintaining the osmotic pressure and charge balance, and it is therefore involved in regulation of stomatal aperture. To fulfil many of these roles, malate has to be accumulated within the large central vacuole. Many unsuccessful efforts have been made in the past to identify the vacuolar malate transporter; here, we describe the identification of the vacuolar malate transporter [A. thaliana tonoplast dicarboxylate transporter (AttDT)]. This transporter exhibits highest sequence similarity to the human sodium/dicarboxylate cotransporter. Independent T-DNA [portion of the Ti (tumor-inducing) plasmid that is transferred to plant cells] Arabidopsis mutants exhibit substantially reduced levels of leaf malate, but respire exogenously applied [14C]malate faster than the WT. An AttDT-GFP fusion protein was localized to vacuole. Vacuoles isolated from Arabidopsis WT leaves exhibited carbonylcyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone and citrate inhibitable malate transport, which was not stimulated by sodium. Vacuoles isolated from mutant plants import [14C]-malate at strongly reduced rates, confirming that this protein is the vacuolar malate transporter.

Phytochelatin synthase catalyzes key step in turnover of glutathione conjugates

Conjugation of xenobiotic compounds and endogenous metabolites to glutathione is an ubiquitous process in eukaryotes. In animals, the first and rate-limiting step of glutathione-S-conjugate metabolism is characterized by the removal of the aminoterminal glutamic acid residue of glutathione. In plants, however, glutathione-S-conjugates are generally metabolized by removal of the carboxylterminal glycine residue of the tripeptide glutathione to give rise to the S-glutamylcysteinyl-derivative. Purification of the glutathione-conjugate catabolizing activity from cell suspension cultures of the plant Silene cucubalus indicated that phytochelatin synthase catalyzes the first step of the pathway. Heterologously expressed phytochelatin synthase from Arabidopsis efficiently converted S-bima ne-glutathione to S-bimane-glutamylcysteine, the formation of which was unequivocally identified by mass spectrometry. No further products, such as S-derivatives of phytochelatins, were observed. Several different glutathione-S-conjugates served as substrates for the enzyme and were processed to the corresponding glutamylcysteinyl-adducts. Affinity-purified phytochelatin synthase preparations required divalent heavy metal ions such as Cd(2+), Zn(2+) or Cu(2+) for detectable turnover of glutathione-S-conjugates. Characterization of the enzymatic properties of phytochelatin synthase argues for both cellular functions of the gamma-glutamylcysteinyl-dipeptidyltransferase: (1) formation of heavy-metal binding peptides and (2) degradation of glutathione-S-conjugates. Mechanistically, the former role is the result of gamma-glutamylcysteinyl transpeptidation onto glutathione or derivatives thereof, while the catabolic function reflects transpeptidation of S-glutamylcysteinyl-adducts onto the acceptor molecule water. Thus, phytochelatin synthase seems to fulfil a second crucial role in glutathione metabolism.

Osmotic stress-induced increase of phosphatidylinositol 3,5-bisphosphate requires Vac14p, an activator of the lipid kinase Fab1p

Phosphatidylinositol 3,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns[3,5]P(2)) was first identified as a non-abundant phospholipid whose levels increase in response to osmotic stress. In yeast, Fab1p catalyzes formation of PtdIns(3,5)P(2) via phosphorylation of PtdIns(3)P. We have identified Vac14p, a novel vacuolar protein that regulates PtdIns(3,5)P(2) synthesis by modulating Fab1p activity in both the absence and presence of osmotic stress. We find that PtdIns(3)P levels are also elevated in response to osmotic stress, yet, only the elevation of PtdIns(3,5)P(2) levels are regulated by Vac14p. Under basal conditions the levels of PtdIns(3,5)P(2) are 18-28-fold lower than the levels of PtdIns(3)P, PtdIns(4)P, and PtdIns(4,5)P(2). After a 10 min exposure to hyperosmotic stress the levels of PtdIns(3,5)P(2) rise 20-fold, bringing it to a cellular concentration that is similar to the other phosphoinositides. This suggests that PtdIns(3,5)P(2) plays a major role in osmotic stress, perhaps via regulation of vacuolar volume. In fact, during hyperosmotic stress the vacuole morphology of wild-type cells changes dramatically, to smaller, more highly fragmented vacuoles, whereas mutants unable to synthesize PtdIns(3,5)P(2) continue to maintain a single large vacuole. These findings demonstrate that Vac14p regulates the levels of PtdIns(3,5)P(2) and provide insight into why PtdIns(3,5)P(2) levels rise in response to osmotic stress.

Characterization of the V-type H((+))-ATPase in the resurrection plant Tortula ruralis: accumulation and polysomal recruitment of the proteolipid c subunit in response to salt-stress

Tortula ruralis is an important experimental system for the study of plant vegetative desiccation tolerance. EST gene discovery efforts utilizing desiccated gametophytes have identified a cDNA Vac1 encoding a predicted polypeptide with significant similarity to the vacuolar H(+)-ATPase c subunit. VAC1, the 167 amino acid deduced polypeptide, has a predicted molecular mass of 16.9 kDa, and a predicted pI of 9.7. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that previously characterized proteolipid polypeptide sequences could be reproducibly grouped into two major clades and that VAC1 forms a discrete evolutionary group. RNA blot and Western blot hybridizations were used to analyse expression of Vac1 and accumulation of VAC1 in response to (1) desiccation and rehydration, (2) increased NaCl concentration, and (3) NaCl-shock. During a desiccation-rehydration cycle, Vac1 transcripts are expressed in both the total and polysomal RNA fractions in approximately equal amounts, and the steady-state transcript levels are unchanged. However, Vac1 transcript levels increased in response to both elevated NaCl concentration and NaCl-shock. There is a preferential accumulation of Vac1 transcripts within the polysomal RNA fraction in response to salt stress, and these data suggest that T. ruralis possesses a salinity-stress-dependent and desiccation-stress-independent mechanism for post-transcriptional gene control. Using a cotton anti-c subunit polyclonal antibody raised against the C-terminal domain, it was shown that the amount of Tortula 16 kDa proteolipid in the tonoplast protein fraction was unaffected by any stress treatment.

Metabolic engineering of plants: the role of membrane transport

As plant cells are highly compartmentalized, the entrance and exit points of metabolic pathways frequently involve membrane passages of solutes. Transport proteins are often located in strategic positions to control whole pathways and have to be considered in the development of metabolic engineering strategies. Here, we discuss examples of pathways (in carbohydrate metabolism, amino acid and secondary compound synthesis, and mineral metabolism) in which membrane transport steps are considered to exert major control and in which transport proteins have been employed to manipulate metabolic fluxes.

Reversible redox control of plant vacuolar H+-ATPase activity is related to disulfide bridge formation in subunit E as well as subunit A

The plant vacuolar proton pump can be subjected to reversible redox regulation in vitro. The redox-dependent activity change involves disulfide bridge formation not only in Vatp A, as reported for bovine V-ATPase, but also in the stalk subunit Vatp E. Microsomal membranes isolated from barley leaves were analysed for their activity of bafilomycin-sensitive ATP hydrolysis and proton pumping using quinacrine fluorescence quenching in vesicle preparations. ATP hydrolysis and proton pumping activity were inhibited by H2O2. H2O2-deactivated ATPase was reactivated by cysteine and glutathione. The glutathione concentration needed for half maximal reactivation was 1 mmol l-1. The activity loss was accompanied by shifts in electrophoretic mobility of Vatp A and E which were reversed upon reductive reactivation. The redox-dependent shift was also seen with recombinant Vatp E, and was absent following site-directed mutagenesis of either of the two cys residues conserved throughout all plant Vatp E sequences. V-ATPase was also inhibited by oxidized thioredoxin. These results support the hypothesis that tuning of vacuolar ATPase activity can be mediated by redox control depending on the metabolic requirements.

Analysis of the compartmentation of glycolytic intermediates, nucleotides, sugars, organic acids, amino acids, and sugar alcohols in potato tubers using a nonaqueous fractionation method

The compartmentation of metabolism in heterotrophic plant tissues is poorly understood due to the lack of data on metabolite distributions and fluxes between subcellular organelles. The main reason for this is the lack of suitable experimental methods with which intracellular metabolism can be measured. Here, we describe a nonaqueous fractionation method that allows the subcellular distributions of metabolites in developing potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv Desiree) tubers to be calculated. In addition, we have coupled this fractionation method to a recently described gas chromatography-mass spectrometry procedure that allows the measurement of a wide range of small metabolites. To calculate the subcellular metabolite concentrations, we have analyzed organelle volumes in growing potato tubers using electron microscopy. The relative volume distributions in tubers are very similar to the ones for source leaves. More than 60% of most sugars, sugar alcohols, organic acids, and amino acids were found in the vacuole, although the concentrations of these metabolites is often higher in the cytosol. Significant amounts of the substrates for starch biosynthesis, hexose phosphates, and ATP were found in the plastid. However, pyrophosphate was located almost exclusively in the cytosol. Calculation of the mass action ratios of sucrose synthase, UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase, phosphoglucosisomerase, and phosphoglucomutase indicate that these enzymes are close to equilibrium in developing potato tubers. However, due to the low plastidic pyrophosphate concentration, the reaction catalyzed by ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase was estimated to be far removed from equilibrium.

TONOPLAST TRANSPORTERS: Organization and Function

Regulation of the contents and volume of vacuoles in plant cells depends on the coordinated activities of transporters and channels located in the tonoplast (vacuolar membrane). The three major components of the tonoplast are two proton pumps, the vacuolar H+-ATPase (V-ATPase) and H+-pyrophosphatase (V-PPase), and aquaporins. The tertiary structure of the V-ATPase complex and properties of its subunits have been characterized by biochemical and genetic techniques. These studies and a comparison with the F-type ATPase have enabled estimation of the dynamics of V-ATPase activity during catalysis. V-PPase, a simple proton pump, has been identified and cloned from various plant species and other organisms, such as algae and phototrophic bacteria, and functional motifs of the enzyme have been determined. Aquaporin, serving as the water channel, is the most abundant protein in the tonoplast in most plants. A common molecular architecture of aquaporins in mammals and plants has been determined by two-dimensional crystallographic analysis. Furthermore, recent molecular biological studies have revealed several other types of tonoplast transporters, such as the Ca2+-ATPase, Ca2+/H+ antiporter and Na+/H+ antiporter. Many other transporters and channels in the tonoplast remain to be identified; their activities have already been detected. This review presents an overview of the field and discusses recent findings on the tonoplast protein components that have been identified and their physiological consequences.