Biologia plantarum, 2018 (vol. 62), issue 2

Reviews

Regulation of the key antioxidant enzymes by developmental processes and environmental stresses in the dark

P. Poór, A. Ördög, Z. Czékus, P. Borbély, Z. Takács, J. Kovács, I. Tari

Biologia plantarum 62:201-210, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-018-0782-7

The presence of solar radiation is one of the most important environmental factors, which is required for the optimal growth and development of plants. The absence of it (e.g. in the night period or artificially prolonged darkness) can alter the light-dependent signalling and regulation pathways and may induce new defence responses. Antioxidant enzymes as components of the plant defence system play a crucial role in the detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by several stressors; however, their regulation can be different in the light or in the dark. In this review we summarize the current knowledge about the physiological and...

Original Papers

Anatomy and photosystem II activity of in vitro grown Aechmea blanchetiana as affected by 1-naphthaleneacetic acid

J. P. R. Martins, L. C. A. Rodrigues, E. R. Santos, B. G. Batista, A. B. P. L. Gontijo, A. R. Falqueto

Biologia plantarum 62:211-221, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-018-0781-8

Auxins are one of the main regulators of in vitro plant growth and development. However, the mechanisms, by which auxins, such as 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), affect in vitro root and leaf anatomy and photosystem function, remain unclear. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to analyze the effect of different NAA concentrations on the anatomy and photosynthetic performance of in vitro-propagated Aechmea blanchetiana and to determine whether such a treatment affects micropropagated plants after acclimatization. In vitro-established A. blanchetiana plants were transferred to culture media that contained...

Identification of MYB transcription factor genes and their expression during abiotic stresses in maize

Y. H. Chen, Y. Y. Cao, L. J. Wang, L. M. Li, J. Yang, M. X. Zou

Biologia plantarum 62:222-230, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-017-0756-1

The MYB transcription factor superfamily is a large gene family that plays central roles in developmental processes and defence responses in plants. Unlike in Arabidopsis, only few members of the R2R3-MYB gene family have been functionally well characterized in maize, especially in abiotic stress-response pathways. Subgroup-specific conserved motifs outside the MYB domain may reflect functional conservation. A comparative genomics study using Arabidopsis abiotic stress-responsive MYB protein sequences identified 46 ZmMYB genes that may be involve in abiotic stress responses of Zea mays. An expression...

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Pseudoroegneria libanotica, genomic features, and phylogenetic relationship with Triticeae species

D. D. Wu, L. N. Sha, C. Tang, X. Fan, Y. Wang, H. Y. Kang, H. Q. Zhang, Y. H. Zhou

Biologia plantarum 62:231-240, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-017-0759-y

Pseudoroegneria libanotica is an important herbage diploid species possessing the St genome. The St genome participates in the formation of nine perennial genera in Triticeae (Poaceae). The whole chloroplast (cp) genome of P. libanotica is 135 026 bp in length. The typical quadripartite structure consists of one large single copy of 80 634 bp, one small single copy of 12 766 bp and a pair of inverted regions (20 813 bp each). The cp genome contains 76 coding genes, four ribosomal RNA and 30 transfer RNA genes. Comparative sequence analysis suggested that: 1) the 737 bp deletion in the cp of P. libanotica was...

Wheat chromosome instability in the selfed progeny of the double monosomics 1Rv-1A

O. G. Silkova, Y. N. Ivanova, E. A. Krivosheina, E. B. Bondarevich, L. A. Solovey, E. A. Sycheva, N. I. Dubovets

Biologia plantarum 62:241-249, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-017-0757-0

Structural alterations of chromosomes are often found in wheat-rye hybrids. In the majority of cases modifications are observed for rye chromosomes, yet chromosome aberration cases are described for wheat, including the progeny of Triticum aestivum disomic and monosomic addition lines. Since wheat-rye substitution and translocation lines are the source of rye chromatin in wheat breeding programs, the information on possible chromosome changes in the genomes of introgressive forms is important. Chromosome behavior in F1 meiosis and chromosomal composition of F2 karyotypes for double monosomics 1Rv-1A were studied by applying...

Activation of polyketide synthase gene promoter in Cannabis sativa by heterologous transcription factors derived from Humulus lupulus

G. S. Duraisamy, A. K. Mishra, T. Kocábek, J. Matoušek

Biologia plantarum 62:250-260, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-017-0766-z

Cannabis sativa, an annual herbaceous plant, produce wide variety of secondary metabolites among which delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the most important one. The dissection of biosynthetic pathway(s) of this compound and its regulation by transcription factors (TFs) is an important prerequisite for efficient biotechnological manipulation of its secondary metabolome. A polyketide synthase (PKS) of C. sativa catalyzes the first step of cannabinoid biosynthesis, leading to the biosynthesis of olivetolic acid. Cloning and analysis of PKS promoter based on online PLACE, PlantCARE, and Genomatix Matinspector...

NaPi/SX-RNase segregates as a functional S-RNase and is induced under phosphate deficiency in Nicotiana alata

H. J. Rojas, C. Caspani, E. G. Escobar, R. Quiroga, A. Goldraij

Biologia plantarum 62:261-268, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-018-0783-6

In plants, class III T2 RNases involves two groups of structurally similar proteins, but with different biological functions: S-RNases and non-S-RNases. S-RNases have been involved in self-incompatibility whereas non-S-RNases have been implicated in stress responses. Here we report a novel class III RNase termed NaPi/Sx-RNase, which works both in self-incompatibility and in response to phosphate deficiency. The NaPi/Sx-RNase gene was identified in roots of Nicotiana alata grown in the absence of inorganic phosphate. Phylogenetic analysis showed that NaPi/Sx-RNase was included within the class...

Identification of putative CONSTANS-like genes from the de novo assembled transcriptome of leek

C. Liu, Q. Tang, C. Cheng, Y. Xu, Z. Yang, Z. Dai, J. Su

Biologia plantarum 62:269-276, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-018-0778-3

Leek is an economically important vegetable. In model plants, the CONSTANS (CO) and CONSTANS-like (COL) genes play central roles in plant flowering modulation. However, none of leek CO homolog has been identified, because of limited gene resources obtained in this crop. Here, we reported the transcriptome analysis of leek, along with the identification of putative leek CONSTANS-like (COL) (ApCOL) genes. A total of 189 713 non-redundant transcripts were de novo assembled by using about 128.9 million clean sequence reads, of which, 48 621 were achieved for functional annotation. Thereafter, the...

Identification of the genes involved in heterotrimeric G-protein signaling in mulberry and their regulation by abiotic stresses and signal molecules

C. Y. Liu, Y. Z. Xu, W. Fan, D. P. Long, B. N. Cao, Z. H. Xiang, A. C. Zhao

Biologia plantarum 62:277-286, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-018-0779-2

Heterotrimeric guanine-nucleotide-binding proteins (G-proteins) play important roles in signal transduction and regulate responses to various stresses. Although G-protein signaling pathways have been extensively identified and characterized in model plants, there is little knowledge in non-model and especially in woody plants. Mulberry is an economically and ecologically important perennial tree, which is adaptable to many environmental stresses. In this study, we identified and cloned six G-protein genes including one Gα, one Gβ, two Gγ, one RGS (regulator of G-protein signaling protein) and one RACK1...

Identification of gene co-expression networks involved in cold resistance of Lilium lancifolium

Y. B. Yong, W. Q. Li, J. M. Wang, Y. Zhang, Y. M. Lu

Biologia plantarum 62:287-298, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-017-0767-y

Low temperature can affect the growth and development of lily, limiting the application of commercial cultivars in outdoor. Lilium lancifolium is an important cold-resistant wild lily, but little is known about how L. lancifolium tolerates cold stress at the molecular level. In this study, we identified and characterized genes and transcription factors associated with cold stress in control plants and plants treated by 4° C for 1 - 24 h. The construction of a highest reciprocal rank-based gene co-expression network along with its partition into defined functional modules using Markov cluster algorithm resulted in identification of 30...

Identification of genes associated with drought tolerance in barley

S. F. Abou-Elwafa

Biologia plantarum 62:299-306, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-017-0765-0

Mapping of quantitative trait genes (QTGs) associated with drought related traits is essential for improving drought tolerance in crop species. In silico identification of candidate genes relies on annotation of critical QTGs to a variety of web resource-based datasets. The barley reference sequence was employed to map QTGs significantly associated with the proline accumulation and osmotic potential. Annotation of the critical QTGs contigs to the NCBI protein database identified 72 gene orthologs located on chromosomes 1H, 2H, and 7H, from which seven genes were identified as candidates. Expression analysis of all seven candidate genes revealed...

Osmotic stress affects growth, content of chlorophyll, abscisic acid, Na+, and K+, and expression of novel NAC genes in contrasting rice cultivars

S. García-Morales, F. C. Gómez-Merino, L. I. Trejo-Téllez, L. Tavitas-Fuentes, L. Hernández-Aragón

Biologia plantarum 62:307-317, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-017-0761-4

Osmotic stress causes a series of morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular changes that alters plant growth, development, and productivity around the globe. Phytohormones, nutrients, and transcription factors may induce adaptive responses to osmotic stress in plants. We evaluated the effect of osmotic stress induced by 18.5 % polyethylene glycol (PEG) or 100 mM NaCl on growth, content of abscisic acid (ABA), chlorophyll (Chl), sodium, and potassium, and the expression of multifunctional NAC transcription factors in rice cultivars (the salt-tolerant Cotaxtla and salt-sensitive Tres Ríos). The PEG and NaCl decreased shoot height...

Characterization and primary functional analysis of Pinus densata miR171

B. Z. Hai, Z. B. Qiu, Y. Y. He, M. M. Yuan, Y. F. Li

Biologia plantarum 62:318-324, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-018-0774-7

The miR171 is a conserved microRNA (miRNA) family and has been shown to participate in plant growth and development. However, the precise function of miR171 in Pinus densata remains largely unclear. Mature miR171 sequence comparison reveals high similarity between Arabidopsis thaliana and P. densata and the pre-miR171 could fold into a characteristic stem-loop hairpin structure. Genes encoding GRAS (GAI-RGA-SCR) family transcription factors and actin binding protein were identified as targets of pde-miR171 using a modified RNA ligase mediated 5' rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RLM-RACE). Furthermore,...

The role of tripartite interaction of calcium sensors and transporters in the accumulation of calcium in finger millet grain

S. B. Kokane, R. K. Pathak, M. Singh, A. Kumar

Biologia plantarum 62:325-334, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-018-0776-5

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is one of important crops, and its grains contain an exceptionally high content of calcium. In order to investigate the molecular mechanism by which it orchestrate the accumulation of Ca2+ during grain filling, some candidate genes encoding calcium transporters [calcium exchangers (CAX1, CAX3)] and sensors [calcineurin-B like (CBL4 and 10)], a CBL-interacting protein kinase (CIPK24), and calmodulin (CaM) were identified using transcriptomics and differential expression analysis in two genotypes of finger millet differing in grain calcium content. These transporters...

Over-expression of transcription factor GhWRI1 in upland cotton

Z. J. Liu, Y. P. Zhao, W. Liang, Y. P. Cui, Y. M. Wang, J. P. Hua

Biologia plantarum 62:335-342, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-018-0777-4

Transcription factors are involved in lipid metabolism, and in present study, the transcription factor WRINKLED 1 (GhWRI1) was cloned from Gossypium hirsutum L. cv. Coker 201 by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR and rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The Pro35S:WRI1 vector was constructed and transformed into upland cotton cv. Sumian 20 using the pollen tube pathway method. After PCR and Southern blot verification of the positive transgenic plants, T2 transgenic lines derived from T1 individuals with the insertion gene in a single copy were chosen for further dissection. Semi-quantitative and quantitative...

Photosynthetic pigments, betalains, proteins, sugars, and minerals during Salicornia brachiata senescence

A. K. Parida, A. Kumari, A. Panda, J. Rangani, P. K. Agarwal

Biologia plantarum 62:343-352, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-017-0764-1

Senescence is the last developmental stage in plants during which recycling of nutrients takes place from senescing organs to newly formed organs such as young leaves and developing seeds. In the present work, senescence induced alterations in mineral ions, chlorophylls, carotenoids, betacyanin, betaxanthin, proteins, amino acids, sugars, starch, and polyphenols were monitored in shoots of an extreme halophyte Salicornia brachiata. A sharp decline in the content of chlorophylls, carotenoids, and proteins in the shoot was noticed at middle and late stages of senescence in comparison with early stage. However, the content of betacyanin, betaxanthin,...

The tomato cytosolic fructokinase FRK1 is important for phloem fiber development

O. Stein, F. Secchi, M. A. German, H. Damari-Weissler, R. Aloni, N. M. Holbrook, M. A. Zwieniecky, D. Granot

Biologia plantarum 62:353-361, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-017-0762-3

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants have four fructokinase genes, SlFRK1-4. The SlFRK4 is expressed only in pollen whereas the other three are expressed in all plant parts. While SlFRK2 and SlFRK3 are involved in vascular tissue development and affects the shape, size, and cell-wall width of xylem vessels and xylem fibers, the role of SlFRK1 has not been studied previously. The current work investigates the expression of SlFRK1 using transgenic tomato plants expressing the β-glucuronidase reporter gene under the SlFRK1 promoter, as well as the role of SlFRK1 using transgenic plants...

Brassinosteroids and iron plaque affect arsenic and cadmium uptake by rice seedlings grown in hydroponic solution

B. Xu, J. Y. Yu, T. Xie, Y. L. Li, M. J. Liu, J. X. Guo, H. L. Li, Y. Yu, C. Y. Zheng, Y. H. Chen, G. Wang

Biologia plantarum 62:362-368, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-018-0784-5

Brassinosteroids (Brs) have drawn wide attention due to their protective role against toxicity of heavy metals in plants. To better understand the role of Br in arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd) uptake by rice plants, a hydroponic experiment was conducted to investigate the combined effect of 24-epibrassinolide (Br24) or 28-homobrassinolide (Br28) and iron plaque (IP) on As and Cd uptake and accumulation in rice seedlings. Six-week-old seedlings were sprayed with 0.2 or 0.02 μM Br24 or Br28 and grown in nutrient solution for 3 d, and then 20 or 60 mg Fe2+ dm-3 (Fe20 and Fe60) was used to induce root IP formation for 3 d. These...

Characterization of novel D-hordeins from Psathyrostachys juncea

X. K. Hu, S. F. Dai, T. Ouellet, M. Balcerzak, H. Rocheleau, S. Khanizadeh, Z. J. Pu, Z. H. Yan

Biologia plantarum 62:369-378, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-018-0775-6

Three genes encoding novel D-hordeins, Ns 1.3, Ns 2.6, and Ns 2.9 were isolated from Psathyrostachys juncea. The Ns 1.3 differed from Ns 2.6 and Ns 2.9 by having a shorter open reading frame (< 1.5 kb versus > 2.5 kb), and was probably not expressed as a normal protein, while the activities for Ns 2.6 and Ns 2.9 were verified by bacterial expression. Though highly similar primary structure to wheat high molecular mass glutenin subunits (HMM-GSs) and barley D-hordeins, Ns 2.6 and Ns 2.9 had more cysteine residues (nine in total) and a larger molecular mass than HMMGSs, and a longer N-terminal length than D-hordeins....

Cadmium tolerant and sensitive wheat lines: their differences in pollutant accumulation, cell damage, and autophagy

J. Y. Yue, X. J. Wei, H. Z. Wang

Biologia plantarum 62:379-387, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-018-0785-4

Cadmium (Cd) is a major abiotic stressor that affects plant growth and reduces the productivity of field crops. Here, we examined the ultrastructural, physiological, and molecular changes in three wheat cultivars [Sumai 3, Jingdong 8 (JD 8), and Nannong 9918 (9918)] in response to different concentrations of Cd (0, 10, 50, and 100 μM) in 1/4 Hoagland nutrient solution. The results showed that JD 8 contained the lowest shoot Cd content and the highest root Cd content among the three cultivars at higher Cd concentrations and so JD 8 was proposed to be a relatively Cd-tolerant cultivar. Next, the stress responses of JD 8 and 9918 were compared. Cadmium...

The reinforcement of potato cell wall as part of the phosphite-induced tolerance to UV-B radiation

M. F. Machinandiarena, N. S. Oyarburo, G. R. Daleo, A. B. Andreu, F. P. Olivieri

Biologia plantarum 62:388-394, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-018-0780-9

Phosphites (Phis), inorganic salts of phosphorous acid, have shown to be effective in protection of plants against biotic stress. Recently, we have described that potassium phosphite (KPhi) induces tolerance to UV-B radiation in potato. To counteract the harmful effect of UV radiation, plants accumulate UV-screening compounds, such as flavonoids, sinapate ester, and lignin. In previous work, we have shown an increase in guaiacol peroxidase (POD) activity in plants pretreated with KPhi and further exposed to UV-B radiation. In order to continue with this study, the expression of different enzymes and components involved in cell wall reinforcement were...

Brief Communications

Impact of zinc on dehydration and rehydration responses in tea

H. Upadhyaya, B. K. Dutta, S. K. Panda

Biologia plantarum 62:395-399, 2018 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-017-0758-z

Zinc nutrition of tea (Camelia sinensis) have a great impact on acclimation to dehydration stress and on improvement of stress recovery. Dehydration stress induced by withholding water for 7 d decreased relative water content, dry mass of leaf, and content of antioxidants like ascorbate and glutathione and increased H2O2 content and lipid peroxidation and changed activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase, and glutathione reductase. A pre-treatment with 0.1 and 0.5 mM ZnSO4 minimized these effects and increased Zn uptake. Further, foliar spray with 0.1 and 0.5 mM ZnSO4 before rehydration...