A gravitropic stimulus alters the distribution of EHB1, a negative effector of root gravitropism in Arabidopsis

Hardware Development for Plant Cultivation Allowing In Situ Fluorescence Analysis of Calcium Fluxes in Plant Roots Under Microgravity and Ground-Control Conditions

Maintaining an optimal leaf and stem orientation to yield a maximum photosynthetic output is accomplished by terrestrial plants using sophisticated mechanisms to balance their orientation relative to the Earth's gravity vector and the direction of sunlight. Knowledge of the signal transduction chains of both gravity and light perception and how they influence each other is essential for understanding plant development on Earth and plant cultivation in space environments. However, in situ analyses of cellular signal transduction processes in weightlessness, such as live cell imaging of signaling molecules using confocal fluorescence microscopy, require an adapted experimental setup that meets the special requirements of a microgravity environment. In addition, investigations under prolonged microgravity conditions require extensive resources, are rarely accessible, and do not allow for immediate sample preparation for the actual microscopic analysis. Therefore, supply concepts are needed that ensure both the viability of the contained plants over a longer period of time and an unhindered microscopic analysis in microgravity. Here, we present a customized supply unit specifically designed to study gravity-induced Ca2+ mobilization in roots of Arabidopsis thaliana. The unit can be employed for ground-based experiments, in parabolic flights, on sounding rockets, and probably also aboard the International Space Station.

Role of the plant-specific calcium-binding C2-DOMAIN ABSCISIC ACID-RELATED (CAR) protein family in environmental signaling

Many signaling processes rely on information decoding at the plasma membrane, and membrane-associated proteins and their complexes are fundamental for regulating this process. Still many questions exist as to how protein complexes are assembled and function at membrane sites to change identity and dynamics of membrane systems. Peripheral membrane proteins containing a calcium and phospholipid-binding C2-domain can act in membrane-related signaling by providing a tethering function so that protein complexes form. C2 domain proteins termed C2-DOMAIN ABSCISIC ACID-RELATED (CAR) proteins are plant-specific, and the functional relevance of this C2 domain protein subgroup is just emerging. The ten Arabidopsis CAR proteins CAR1 to CAR10 have a single C2 domain with a plant-specific insertion, the so-called "CAR-extra-signature" or also termed "sig domain". Via this "sig domain" CAR proteins can bind signaling protein complexes of different kinds and act in biotic and abiotic stress, blue light and iron nutrition. Interestingly, CAR proteins can oligomerize in membrane microdomains, and their presence in the nucleus can be linked with nuclear protein regulation. This shows that CAR proteins may play unprecedented roles in coordinating environmental responses and assembling required protein complexes to transmit information cues between plasma membrane and nucleus. The aim of this review is to summarize structure-function characteristics of the CAR protein family and assemble findings from CAR protein interactions and physiological functions. From this comparative investigation we extract common principles about the molecular operations that CAR proteins may fulfill in the cell. We also deduce functional properties of the CAR protein family based on its evolution and gene expression profiles. We highlight open questions and suggest novel avenues to prove and understand the functional networks and roles played by this protein family in plants.

Quantitative trait loci mapping reveals important genomic regions controlling root architecture and shoot biomass under nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium stress in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)

Plants rely on root systems for nutrient uptake from soils. Marker-assisted selection helps breeders to select desirable root traits for effective nutrient uptake. Here, 12 root and biomass traits were investigated at the seedling stage under low nitrogen (LN), low phosphorus (LP), and low potassium (LK) conditions, respectively, in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population, which was generated from Brassica napus L. Zhongshuang11 and 4D122 with significant differences in root traits and nutrient efficiency. Significant differences for all the investigated traits were observed among RILs, with high heritabilities (0.43-0.74) and high correlations between the different treatments. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping identified 57, 27, and 36 loci, explaining 4.1-10.9, 4.6-10.8, and 4.9-17.4% phenotypic variances under LN, LP, and LK, respectively. Through QTL-meta analysis, these loci were integrated into 18 significant QTL clusters. Four major QTL clusters involved 25 QTLs that could be repeatedly detected and explained more than 10% phenotypic variances, including two NPK-common and two specific QTL clusters (K and NK-specific), indicating their critical role in cooperative nutrients uptake of N, P, and K. Moreover, 264 genes within the four major QTL clusters having high expressions in roots and SNP/InDel variations between two parents were identified as potential candidate genes. Thirty-eight of them have been reported to be associated with root growth and development and/or nutrient stress tolerance. These key loci and candidate genes lay the foundation for deeper dissection of the NPK starvation response mechanisms in B. napus.

Tangent algorithm for photogravitropic balance in plants and Phycomyces blakesleeanus: Roles for EHB1 and NPH3 of Arabidopsis thaliana

Plant organs that are exposed to continuous unilateral light reach in the steady-state a photogravitropic bending angle that results from the mutual antagonism between the photo- and gravitropic responses. To characterize the interaction between the two tropisms and their quantitative relationship we irradiated seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana that were inclined at various angles and determined the fluence rates of unilateral blue light required to compensate the gravitropism of the inclined hypocotyls. We found the compensating fluence rates to increase with the tangent of the inclination angles (0° < γ < 90° or max. 120°) and decrease with the cotangent (90°< γ < 180° or max. 120°of the inclination angles. The tangent dependence became also evident from analysis of previous data obtained with Avena sativa and the phycomycete fungus, Phycomyces blakesleeanus. By using loss-of function mutant lines of Arabidopsis, we identified EHB1 (enhanced bending 1) as an essential element for the generation of the tangent and cotangent relationships. Because EHB1 possesses a C2-domain with two putative calcium binding sites, we propose that the ubiquitous calcium dependence of gravi- and phototropism is in part mediated by Ca²⁺-bound EHB1. Based on a yeast-two-hybrid analysis we found evidence that EHB1 does physically interact with the ARF-GAP protein AGD12. Both proteins were reported to affect gravi- and phototropism antagonistically. We further showed that only AGD12, but not EHB1, interacts with its corresponding ARF-protein. Evidence is provided that AGD12 is able to form homodimers as well as heterodimers with EHB1. On the basis of these data we present a model for a mechanism of early tropism events, in which Ca²⁺-activated EHB1 emerges as the central processor-like element that links the gravi- and phototropic transduction chains and that generates in coordination with NPH3 and AGD12 the tangent / cotangent algorithm governing photogravitropic equilibrium.