Mutation of Arabidopsis BARD1 causes meristem defects by failing to confine WUSCHEL expression to the organizing center

The Arabidopsis EAR-motif-containing protein RAP2.1 functions as an active transcriptional repressor to keep stress responses under tight control

BACKGROUND

Plants respond to abiotic stress through complex regulation of transcription, including both transcriptional activation and repression. Dehydration-responsive-element binding protein (DREB)-type transcription factors are well known to play important roles in adaptation to abiotic stress. The mechanisms by which DREB-type transcription factors activate stress-induced gene expression have been relatively well studied. However, little is known about how DREB-type transcriptional repressors modulate plant stress responses. In this study, we report the functional analysis of RAP2.1, a DREB-type transcriptional repressor.

RESULTS

RAP2.1 possesses an APETALA2 (AP2) domain that binds to dehydration-responsive elements (DREs) and an ERF-associated amphiphilic repression (EAR) motif, as the repression domain located at the C-terminus of the protein. Expression of RAP2.1 is strongly induced by drought and cold stress via an ABA-independent pathway. Arabidopsis plants overexpressing RAP2.1 show enhanced sensitivity to cold and drought stresses, while rap2.1-1 and rap2.1-2 T-DNA insertion alleles result in reduced sensitivity to these stresses. The reduced stress sensitivity of the plant containing the rap2.1 allele can be genetically complemented by the expression of RAP2.1, but not by the expression of EAR-motif-mutated RAP2.1. Furthermore, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis has identified Responsive to desiccation/Cold-regulated (RD/COR) genes as downstream targets of RAP2.1 in vivo. Stress-induced expression of the RD/COR genes is repressed by overexpression of RAP2.1 and is increased in plants expressing the rap2.1 allele. In addition, RAP2.1 can negatively regulate its own expression by binding to DREs present in its own promoter. Our data suggest that RAP2.1 acts as a negative transcriptional regulator in defence responses to cold and drought stress in Arabidopsis.

CONCLUSIONS

A hypothetical model for the role of RAP2.1 in modulating plant responses to cold and drought is proposed in this study. It appears that RAP2.1 acts as a negative "subregulon" of DREB-type activators and is involved in the precise regulation of expression of stress-related genes, acting to keep stress responses under tight control.

A dynamic model for stem cell homeostasis and patterning in Arabidopsis meristems

Plants maintain stem cells in their meristems as a source for new undifferentiated cells throughout their life. Meristems are small groups of cells that provide the microenvironment that allows stem cells to prosper. Homeostasis of a stem cell domain within a growing meristem is achieved by signalling between stem cells and surrounding cells. We have here simulated the origin and maintenance of a defined stem cell domain at the tip of Arabidopsis shoot meristems, based on the assumption that meristems are self-organizing systems. The model comprises two coupled feedback regulated genetic systems that control stem cell behaviour. Using a minimal set of spatial parameters, the mathematical model allows to predict the generation, shape and size of the stem cell domain, and the underlying organizing centre. We use the model to explore the parameter space that allows stem cell maintenance, and to simulate the consequences of mutations, gene misexpression and cell ablations.

The stem cell--chromatin connection

Stem cells self-renew and give rise to all differentiated cell types of the adult body. They are classified as toti-, pluri- or multi-potent based on the number of different cell types they can give rise to. Recently it has become apparent that chromatin regulation plays a critical role in determining the fate of stem cells and their descendants. In this review we will discuss the role of chromatin regulators in maintenance of stem cells and their ability to give rise to differentiating cells in both the animal and plant kingdom. We will highlight similarities and differences in chromatin-mediated control of stem cell fate in plants and animals. We will consider possible reasons why chromatin regulators play a central role in pluripotency in both kingdoms given that multicellularity evolved independently in each.

Chromatin remodeling in stem cell maintenance in Arabidopsis thaliana

Pluripotent stem cells are able to both self-renew and generate undifferentiated cells for the formation of new tissues and organs. In higher plants, stem cells found in the shoot apical meristem (SAM) and the root apical meristem (RAM) are origins of organogenesis occurring post-embryonically. It is important to understand how the regulation of stem cell fate is coordinated to enable the meristem to constantly generate different types of lateral organs. Much knowledge has accumulated on specific transcription factors controlling SAM and RAM activity. Here, we review recent evidences for a role of chromatin remodeling in the maintenance of stable expression states of transcription factor genes and the control of stem cell activity in Arabidopsis.

Plant meristems: CLAVATA3/ESR-related signaling in the shoot apical meristem and the root apical meristem

The plant meristems, shoot apical meristem (SAM) and root apical meristem (RAM), are unique structures made up of a self-renewing population of undifferentiated pluripotent stem cells. The SAM produces all aerial parts of postembryonic organs, and the RAM promotes the continuous growth of roots. Even though the structures of the SAM and RAM differ, the signaling components required for stem cell maintenance seem to be relatively conserved. Both meristems utilize cell-to-cell communication to maintain proper meristematic activities and meristem organization and to coordinate new organ formation. In SAM, an essential regulatory mechanism for meristem organization is a regulatory loop between WUSCHEL (WUS) and CLAVATA (CLV), which functions in a non-cell-autonomous manner. This intercellular signaling network coordinates the development of the organization center, organ boundaries and distant organs. The CLAVATA3/ESR (CLE)-related genes produce signal peptides, which act non-cell-autonomously in the meristem regulation in SAM. In RAM, it has been suggested that a similar mechanism can regulate meristem maintenance, but these functions are largely unknown. Here, we overview the WUS-CLV signaling network for stem cell maintenance in SAM and a related mechanism in RAM maintenance. We also discuss conservation of the regulatory system for stem cells in various plant species.

Inefficient double-strand DNA break repair is associated with increased fasciation in Arabidopsis BRCA2 mutants

BRCA2 is a breast tumour susceptibility factor with functions in maintaining genome stability through ensuring efficient double-strand DNA break (DSB) repair via homologous recombination. Although best known in vertebrates, fungi, and higher plants also possess BRCA2-like genes. To investigate the role of Arabidopsis BRCA2 genes in DNA repair in somatic cells, transposon insertion mutants of the AtBRCA2a and AtBRCA2b genes were identified and characterized. atbrca2a-1 and atbrca2b-1 mutant plants showed hypersensitivity to genotoxic stresses compared to wild-type plants. An atbrca2a-1/atbrca2b-1 double mutant showed an additive increase in sensitivity to genotoxic stresses compared to each single mutant. In addition, it was found that atbrca2 mutant plants displayed fasciation and abnormal phyllotaxy phenotypes with low incidence, and that the ratio of plants exhibiting these phenotypes is increased by gamma-irradiation. Interestingly, these phenotypes were also induced by gamma-irradiation in wild-type plants. Moreover, it was found that shoot apical meristems of the atbrca2a-1/atbrca2b-1 double mutant show altered cell cycle progression. These data suggest that inefficient DSB repair in the atbrca2a-1/atbrca2b-1 mutant leads to disorganization of the programmed cell cycle of apical meristems.

BARD1 may be renamed ROW1 because it functions mainly as a REPRESSOR OF WUSCHEL1

Human BRCA1 (BRreast CAncer susceptible gene1) is known to involve in cell cycle control, transcriptional regulation, DNA recombination, DNA repair and many other processes. hBARD1 (BRCA1-Associated Ring Domain 1) forms heterodimer via its N-terminal conserved RING domain with BRCA1. In Arabidopsis, two genes, At4g21070 and At1g04020, that share N-terminal RING domain and C-terminal BRCT (for BRCA1 C-Terminal) domains with no substantial similarities for other motifs, have been identified. AtBRCA1 was induced by gamma-ray while AtBARD1 was required for DNA repair. Recently, we find that AtBARD1 may function to confine WUS transcription in the shoot apical meristem organization center, together with the ATPase-dependent chromatin remodeling factor, SYD. In bard1-3 Arabidopsis knockout mutant, WUS was released to the outer layers and expressed at extremely high level comparing to wild-type. Our data suggest that BARD1 mainly function as a REPRESSOR OF WUSCHEL1 (ROW1). Extensive motif analyses carried out here showed that ROW1 possesses substantial sequence identity with a reported transcription repressor, MLL and also a potential PHD domain which recognizes histone tail codes, in its uncharacterized middle region. We suggest that ROW1 represses transcription in a chromatin-related mechanism.