Uptake and subcellular compartmentation of gibberellin a(1) applied to leaves of barley and cowpea

Aquaporin AtTIP5;1 as an essential target of gibberellins promotes hypocotyl cell elongation in Arabidopsis thaliana under excess boron stress

Aquaporins play essential roles in growth and development including stem elongation in plants. Tonoplast aquaporin AtTIP5;1 has been proposed to positively regulate hypocotyl elongation under high concentrations of boron (high-B) in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. However, the mechanism underlying this process remains unanswered. Here, we show that paclobatrazol, an inhibitor of GA biosynthesis, significantly suppressed the hypocotyl cell elongation of wild-type (WT) seedlings, and more strongly suppressed that of AtTIP5;1 overexpressors under high-B stress. Two AtTIP5;1 null mutants displayed arrested elongation of cells in the upper part of hypocotyls compared with the WT in the presence of high-B or GA3. Moreover, paclobatrazol treatment completely inhibited the increases in AtTIP5;1 transcripts induced by high-B, whereas GA3 application upregulated AtTIP5;1 expression in the WT. In addition, treatment with high-B remarkably elevated the expression levels of GA3ox1, GA20ox1 and GA20ox2 - key biosynthesis genes of GAs - in WT seedlings. The GA3 and GA4 content also increased in WT seedlings grown in MS medium containing high-B. Additionally, application of high-B failed to enhance AtTIP5;1 expression in the double mutant rga-24-gai-t6 of DELLA genes. Together, these results suggest that AtTIP5;1 is an essential downstream target of GAs. High-B induces the accumulation of GAs, which activates AtTIP5;1 through modulation of the DELLA proteins Repressor of ga1-3 and GA-insensitive, further promoting hypocotyl elongation in A. thaliana.

Carrier-Mediated Uptake of Abscisic Acid by Suspension-Cultured Amaranthus tricolor Cells

Abscisic acid (ABA) uptake by Amaranthus tricolor cell suspensions was found to include both a nonsaturable component and a saturable part with K(m) of 3.74 +/- 0.43 micromolar and an apparent V(max) of 1.5 +/- 0.12 nanomoles per gram per minute. These kinetic parameters as well as the uptake by intact cells at 0 degrees C or by frozen and thawed cells, are consistent with operation of a saturable carrier. This carrier-mediated ABA uptake was partially energized by DeltapH: it increased as the external pH was lowered to pH 4.0; it decreased after the lowering of the DeltapH by the proton ionophore carbonylcyanide-m-chlorophenylhydrazone or after the altering of metabolically maintained pH gradient by metabolic inhibitors (KCN, oligomycin). The carrier is specific for ABA among the plant growth regulators tested, is unaffected by (RS)-trans-ABA and was inhibited by (S)-ABA, (R)-ABA, and also by the ABA analog LAB 173711.

Transport of gibberellin a(1) in cowpea membrane vesicles

The permeability properties of gibberellin A(1) (GA(1)) were examined in membrane vesicles isolated from cowpea hypocotyls. The rate of GA(1) uptake was progressively greater as pH decreased, indicating that the neutral molecule is more permeable than anionic GA(1). Membrane vesicles used in this study possessed a tonoplast-type H(+)-translocating ATPase as assayed by MgATP-dependent quenching of acridine orange fluorescence and methylamine uptake. However, GA(1) uptake was not stimulated by MgATP. At concentrations in excess of 1 micromolar, GA(1), GA(5), and GA, collapsed both MgATP-generated and artifically imposed pH gradients, apparently by shuttling H(+) across the membrane as neutral GA. The relatively high permeability of neutral GA and the potentially detrimental effects of GA in uncoupling pH gradients across intracellular membranes supports the view that GA(1) accumulation and compartmentation must occur by conversion of GA(1) to more polar metabolites.

The uptake of gibberellin A1 by suspension-cultured Spinacia oleracea cells has a carrier-mediated component

The kinetics of the uptake of [(3)H]gibberellin A1 (GA1) by light- and dark-grown suspension-cultured cells of Spinacia oleracea (spinach) have been studied. Use of nonradioactive GA1 and gibberellic acid (GA3) show that the uptake has a saturable and a nonsaturable component. The nonsaturable component increases as the pH is lowered at a fixed concentration of [(3)H]GA1 and is probably caused by non-mediated diffusion of the uncharged protonated species of GA1. The saturable component is not the result of metabolic transformation or to GA1 binding to the cell wall and is suggested to represent the operation of a transport carrier for which GA1 and GA3 are substrates. Auxin, abscisic acid and a cytokinin did not alter the GA1 uptake. The Km is approx. 0.3 μmol dm(-3) at pH 4.4 in light- and dark-grown cells. The Vmax of the carrier is higher in the light-grown cells. The optimum pH for the carrier at a physiological GA1 concentration (3 nmol dm(-3)) was pH 4.0, with no activity detectable at pH 7.0. Both saturable and nonsaturable components were decreased by protonophores indicating that the pH gradient between the cells and the medium may be a component of the driving forces for both types of transport. Both the permeability coefficient for the undissociated GA1 and the ratio V max/K m for the carrier are lower than the corresponding values for the indole-3-acetic acid and abscisic acid carriers studied in other species.

Differential compartmentation of gibberellin a(1) and its metabolites in vacuoles of cowpea and barley leaves

The metabolism and efflux of gibberellin A(1) (GA(1)) taken up by leaves of cowpea (Vigna sinensis cv. Blackeye pea No. 5), as well as the distribution of GA(1) metabolites in the protoplasts and vacuoles of cowpea and barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Numar), were studied.GA(1) is metabolized rapidly in cowpea leaf discs to products tentatively identified as gibberellin A(8) (GA(8)) and gibberellin A(8) glucoside (GA(8)-glu). After labeling leaf discs with [(3)H]GA(1) for 1 hour, the release of radioactivity from the leaf was followed. Over a 12-hour period, the level of radioisotope in the tissue declined to about 35% of the original, after which no further release was observed. At this time, almost all of the radioactivity remaining in the leaf was GA(8)-glu, while most of the radioactivity which had been released was unmetabolized GA(1).Mesophyll protoplasts and vacuoles were isolated from cowpea and barley leaves previously fed [(3)H]GA(1). These protoplasts retain the ability to metabolize GA(1), indicating that neither the leaf structure nor the cell wall is necessary for this metabolism. A higher proportion of GA(8)-glu was found in the vacuoles relative to the entire protoplasts. The results obtained suggest that GA(1) metabolites are preferentially compartmentalized in the vacuoles relative to GA(1).