Free Standard AU & NZ Shipping For All Book Orders Over $80!
Register      Login
Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

AtMCP1b, a chloroplast-localised metacaspase, is induced in vascular tissue after wounding or pathogen infection

Luis Castillo-Olamendi A C , Armando Bravo-Garcìa A B C , Julio Morán B , Mario Rocha-Sosa A and Helena Porta A D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Departmento de Biología Molecular de Plantas, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Mor., México.

B Departmento de Neurociencias, Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Mor., México.

C These authors contributed equally to this article.

D Corresponding author. Email: helena@ibt.unam.mx

Functional Plant Biology 34(12) 1061-1071 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP07153
Submitted: 19 June 2007  Accepted: 17 October 2007   Published: 27 November 2007

Abstract

cDNA corresponding to the Arabidopsis type I metacaspase AtMCP1b was isolated from plants infected with Pseudomonas syringae. A positive correlation between AtMCP1b expression and cell death was observed in the presence of staurosporine, a protein kinase inhibitor that induces programmed cell death. The tissue localisation of an AtMCP1b promoter-GUS fusion was observed in the vascular tissue of transgenic plants. GUS activity increased in response to an incompatible DC3000 (avrRpm1) or a compatible DC3000 P. syringae infection, or to wounding. Confocal and immunohistochemical analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) leaves showed that an AtMCP1b-GFP fusion protein was localised in the chloroplasts. Our data support a positive correlation between AtMCP1b gene expression and cell death in response to wounding or pathogenic interactions. Moreover, the localisation of AtMCP1b gene expression within vascular tissue and cells of abscission regions strongly supports a role for AtMCP1b in programmed cell dismantling events in response to environmental and developmental triggers. The AtMCP1b-GFP subcellular localisation infers a role for the plastid organelles in PCD and, thus, in responses to pathogen attack and development.

Additional keywords: chloroplast metacaspase, wounding, pathogen infection.


Acknowledgements

We thank Guadalupe Zavala and Patricia Rueda for technical support, Eugenio López-Bustos and Paul Gaytán for oligonucletoide synthesis, Jorge Yáñez for sequencing, Andrés Saralegui for confocal images and José J. Sánchez Serrano from CNB, Madrid, Spain for providing us with the Arabidopsis cell culture. We also thank Patricia León, Federico Sánchez and Miguel Angel Cevallos for helpful comments on the manuscript. This work was funded by the Dirección General de Asuntos Para el Personal Acadèmico-UNAM (IN212103).


References


Abramovitch RB, Martin GB (2004) Strategies used by bacterial pathogens to suppress plant defenses. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 7, 356–364.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Abramovitch RB, Martin GB (2005) AvrPtoB: a bacterial type III effector that both elicits and suppresses programmed cell death associated with plant immunity. FEMS Microbiology Letters 245, 1–8.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Behnke HD, Schulz A (1983) The development of specific sieve element plastids in wound phloem of Coleus blumei S type and Pisum sativum P type regenerated from amyloplast-containing parenchyma cells. Protoplasma 114, 125–132.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Bertrand R, Solary E, O’Connor P, Kohn KW, Pommier Y (1994) Induction of a common pathway of apoptosis by staurosporine. Experimental Cell Research 211, 314–321.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Bozhkov PV, Suarez MF, Filonova LH, Daniel G, Zamyatnin AA, Rodriguez-Nieto S, Zhivotovsky B, Smertenko A (2005) Cysteine protease mcII-Pa executes programmed cell death during plant embryogenesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102, 14463–14468.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Chirgwin JM, Przybyla AE, MacDonald RJ, Rutter WJ (1979) Isolation of biologically active ribonucleic acid from sources enriched in ribonuclease. Biochemistry 18, 5294–5299.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Christopher-Kozjan R, Heath MC (2003) Cytological and pharmacological evidence that biotrophic fungi trigger different cell death execution processes in host and nonhost cells during the hypersensitive response. Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology 62, 265–275.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Clough SJ, Bent AF (1998) Floral dip: a simplified method for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana. The Plant Journal 16, 735–743.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Cowling RJ, Kamiya Y, Seto H, Harberd NP (1998) Gibberellin dose-response regulation of GA4 gene transcript levels in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology 117, 1195–1203.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Danon A, Miersch O, Felix G, Camp RGL, Apel K (2005) Concurrent activation of cell death-regulating signaling by singlet oxygen in Arabidopsis thaliana. The Plant Journal 41, 68–80.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

del Pozo O, Pedley KF, Martin GB (2004) MAPKKKs is a positive regulator of cell death associated with both plant immunity and disease. The EMBO Journal 23, 3072–3082.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Dickman MB, Park YK, Oltersdorf T, Li W, Clemente T, French R (2001) Abrogation of disease development in plants expressing animal antiapoptotic genes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98, 6957–6962.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Earley KW, Haag JR, Pontes O, Opper K, Juehne T, Song K, Pikaard CS (2006) Gateway-compatible vectors for plant functional genomics and proteomics. The Plant Journal 45, 616–629.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Earnshaw WC, Martins LM, Kaufmann SH (1999) Mammalian caspases: structure, activation, substrates, and functions during apoptosis. Annual Review of Biochemistry 68, 383–424.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Elbaz MAA, Weil M (2002) Constitutive caspase-like machinery executes programmed dell death in plant cells. Cell Death and Differentiation 9, 726–733.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Epple P, Mack AA, Morris VR, Dangl JL (2003) Antagonistic control of oxidative stress-induced cell death in Arabidopsis by two related, plant-specific zinc finger proteins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100, 6831–6836.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Gray J, Janick-Buckner D, Buckner B, Close PS, Johal GS (2002) Light-dependent death of maize lls1 cells is mediated by mature chloroplasts. Plant Physiology 130, 1894–1907.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Greenberg JT (1996) Programmed cell death: a way of life for plants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 93, 12094–12097.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Groover A, Jones AM (1999) Tracheary element differentiation uses a novel mechanism coordinating programmed cell death and secondary cell wall synthesis. Plant Physiology 119, 375–384.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Hadfield KA, Bennett AB (1998) Polygalacturonases: many genes in search of a function. Plant Physiology 117, 337–343.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Hao L, Goodwin PH, Hsiang T (2007) Expression of a metacaspase gene of Nicotiana benthamiana after inoculation with Colleotrichum destructivum or Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, and the effect of silencing the gene on the host response. Plant Cell Reports 26, 1879–1888.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Hoeberichts FA, Woltering EJ (2003) Multiple mediators of plant programmed cell death: interplay of conserved cell death mechanisms and plant-specific regulators. BioEssays 25, 47–57.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Hoeberichts FA, ten Have A, Woltering EJ (2003) A tomato metacaspase gene is unregulated during programmed cell death in Botrytis cinerea-infected leaves. Planta 217, 517–522.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Ito J, Fukuda H (2002) ZEN1 is a key enzyme in the degradation of nuclear DNA during programmed cell death of tracheary elements. The Plant Cell 14, 3201–3211.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Jefferson RA (1987) Assaying chimeric genes in plants: the GUS gene fusion system. Plant Molecular Biology Reporter 5, 387–405. open url image1

Kuroyanagi M, Yamada K, Hatsugai N, Kondo M, Nishimura M, Hara-Nishimura I (2005) Vacuolar processing enzyme is essential for mycotoxin-induced cell death in Arabidopsis thaliana. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 280, 32914–32920.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Lincoln JE, Richael C, Overduin B, Smith K, Bostock R, Gilchrist DG (2002) Expression of the antiapoptotic baculovirus p35 gene in tomato blocks programmed cell death and provides broad-spectrum resistance to disease. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 99, 15217–15221.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Mergemann H, Sauter M (2000) Ethylene induces epidermal cell death at the site of adventitious root emergence in rice. Plant Physiology 124, 609–614.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Murashige T, Skoog F (1962) A revised medium for rapid growth and bioassays with tobacco tissue cultures. Physiologia Plantarum 15, 473–497.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Sanmartin M, Jaroszweski L, Raikel NV, Rojo E (2005) Caspases. Regulating death since origin of life. Plant Physiology 137, 841–847.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Scarpella E, Simons EJ, Meijer AH (2005) Multiple regulatory elements contribute to the vascular-specific expression of the rice HD-Zip gene Oshox1 in Arabidopsis. Plant & Cell Physiology 46, 1400–1410.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Sexton R, Roberts JA (1982) Cell biology of abscission of Impatiens leaves. Annual Review of Plant Physiology 181, 195–203. open url image1

Sjolund RD (1997) The phloem sieve element: a river runs through it. The Plant Cell 9, 1137–1146.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Suarez MF, Filonova LH, Smertenko A, Savenkov EI, Clapham DH, von Arnold S, Zhivotovsky B, Bozhkov PV (2004) Metacaspase-dependent programmed cell death is essential for plant embryogenesis. Current Biology 14, R339–R340.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Tao Y, Xie Z, Chen W, Glazebrook J, Chang HS, Han B, Zhu T, Zou G, Katagiri F (2003) Quantitative nature of Arabidopsis responses during compatible and incompatible interactions with the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. The Plant Cell 15, 317–330.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Tornero P, Dangl JL (2001) A high-throughput method for quantifying growth of phytopathogenic bacteria in Arabidopsis thaliana. The Plant Journal 28, 475–481.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Uren AG, O’Rourke K, Aravind L, Pisabarro MT, Seshagiri S, Koonin EV, Dixit VM (2000) Identification of paracaspases and metacaspases: two ancient families of caspase-like proteins, one of which plays a key role in MALT lymphoma. Molecular Cell 6, 961–967.
PubMed |
open url image1

van Bel AJ, Ehlers K, Knoblauch M (2002) Sieve elements caught in the act. Trends in Plant Science 7, 126–132.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

van Doorn WG, Woltering EJ (2005) Many ways to exit? Cell death categories in plants. Trends in Plant Science 10, 117–122.
PubMed |
open url image1

Vercammen D, van de Cotte B, De Jaeger G, Eeckhout D, Casteels V, Klaas A, Vandenberghe I, Van Beeumen DI, Van Breusegem F (2004) Type II metacaspases Atmc4 and Atmc9 of Arabidopsis thaliana cleave substrates after arginine and lysine. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 279, 45329–45336.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Vercammen D, Belenghi B, van de Cotte B, Beunens T, Gavigan JA, De Rycke R, Brackenier A, Inz ÈD, Harris JL, Van Breusegem F (2006) Serpin of Arabidopsis thaliana is a suicide inhibitor for metacaspase 9. Journal of Molecular Biology 364, 625–636.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Watanabe N, Lam E (2005) Two Arabidopsis metacaspases AtMCP1b and AtMCP2b are arginine/lysine-specific cysteine proteases and activate apoptosis-like cell death in yeast. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 280, 14691–14699.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Yaeno T, Matsuda O, Iba K (2004) Role of chloroplast trienoic acid in plant disease defense response. The Plant Journal 40, 931–941.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Yang M, Wardzala E, Johal GS, Gray J (2004) The wound-inducible Lls1 gene from maize is an orthologue of the Arabidopsis Acd1 gene, and the LLS1 protein is present in non-photosynthetic tissues. Plant Molecular Biology 54, 175–191.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Yao N, Greenberg JT (2006) Arabidopsis ACCELERATED CELL DEATH2 modulates programmed cell death. The Plant Cell 18, 397–411.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Zou J, Rodriguez-Zas S, Aldea M, Li M, Zhu J, Gonzalez DO, Vodkin O, De Lucia E, Clough SJ (2005) Expression profiling soybean response to Pseudomonas syringae reveals new defense-related genes and rapid HR-specific downregulation of photosynthesis. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 18, 1161–1174.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Zuppini A, Bugno V, Baldan B (2006) Monitoring programmed cell death triggered by mild heat shock. Functional Plant Biology 33, 617–627.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1