Cloning and expression analysis of hemoglobin genes from maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) and teosinte (Zea mays ssp. parviglumis)

Interorgan, intraorgan and interplant communication mediated by nitric oxide and related species

Plant survival to a potential plethora of diverse environmental insults is underpinned by coordinated communication amongst organs to help shape effective responses to these environmental challenges at the whole plant level. This interorgan communication is supported by a complex signal network that regulates growth, development and environmental responses. Nitric oxide (NO) has emerged as a key signalling molecule in plants. However, its potential role in interorgan communication has only recently started to come into view. Direct and indirect evidence has emerged supporting that NO and related species (S-nitrosoglutathione, nitro-linolenic acid) are mobile interorgan signals transmitting responses to stresses such as hypoxia and heat. Beyond their role as mobile signals, NO and related species are involved in mediating xylem development, thus contributing to efficient root-shoot communication. Moreover, NO and related species are regulators in intraorgan systemic defence responses aiming an effective, coordinated defence against pathogens. Beyond its in planta signalling role, NO and related species may act as ex planta signals coordinating external leaf-to-leaf, root-to-leaf but also plant-to-plant communication. Here, we discuss these exciting developments and emphasise how their manipulation may provide novel strategies for crop improvement.

Peroxidase activity of rice (Oryza sativa) hemoglobin: distinct role of tyrosines 112 and 151

Five non-symbiotic hemoglobins (nsHb) have been identified in rice (Oryza sativa). Previous studies have shown that stress conditions can induce their overexpression, but the role of those globins is still unclear. To better understand the functions of nsHb, the reactivity of rice Hb1 toward hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has been studied in vitro. Our results show that recombinant rice Hb1 dimerizes through dityrosine cross-links in the presence of H2O2. By site-directed mutagenesis, we suggest that tyrosine 112 located in the FG loop is involved in this dimerization. Interestingly, this residue is not conserved in the sequence of the five rice non-symbiotic hemoglobins. Stopped-flow spectrophotometric experiments have been performed to measure the catalytic constants of rice Hb and its variants using the oxidation of guaiacol. We have shown that Tyrosine112 is a residue that enhances the peroxidase activity of rice Hb1, since its replacement by an alananine leads to a decrease of guaiacol oxidation. In contrast, tyrosine 151, a conserved residue which is buried inside the heme pocket, reduces the protein reactivity. Indeed, the variant Tyr151Ala exhibits a higher peroxidase activity than the wild type. Interestingly, this residue affects the heme coordination and the replacement of the tyrosine by an alanine leads to the loss of the distal ligand. Therefore, even if the amino acid at position 151 does not participate to the formation of the dimer, this residue modulates the peroxidase activity and plays a role in the hexacoordinated state of the heme.

Sustainable and high-level microbial production of plant hemoglobin in Corynebacterium glutamicum

BACKGROUND

Plant hemoglobin shows great potential as a food additive to circumvent the controversy of using animal materials. Microbial fermentation with engineered microorganisms is considered as a promising strategy for sustainable production of hemoglobin. As an endotoxin-free and GRAS (generally regarded as safe) bacterium, Corynebacterium glutamicum is an attractive host for hemoglobin biosynthesis.

RESULTS

Herein, C. glutamicum was engineered to efficiently produce plant hemoglobin. Hemoglobin genes from different sources including soybean and maize were selected and subjected to codon optimization. Interestingly, some candidates optimized for the codon usage bias of Escherichia coli outperformed those for C. glutamicum regarding the heterologous expression in C. glutamicum. Then, saturated synonymous mutation of the N-terminal coding sequences of hemoglobin genes and fluorescence-based high-throughput screening produced variants with 1.66- to 3.45-fold increase in hemoglobin expression level. To avoid the use of toxic inducers, such as isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside, two native inducible expression systems based on food additives propionate and gluconate were developed. Promoter engineering improved the hemoglobin expression level by 2.2- to 12.2-fold. Combination of these strategies and plasmid copy number modification allowed intracellular production of hemoglobin up to approximately 20% of total protein. Transcriptome and proteome analyses of the hemoglobin-producing strain revealed the cellular response to excess hemoglobin accumulation. Several genes were identified as potential targets for further enhancing hemoglobin production.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, production of plant hemoglobin in C. glutamicum was systematically engineered by combining codon optimization, promoter engineering, plasmid copy number modification, and multi-omics-guided novel target discovery. This study offers useful design principles to genetically engineer C. glutamicum for the production of hemoglobin and other recombinant proteins.

Phytoglobin overexpression promotes barley growth in the presence of enhanced level of atmospheric nitric oxide

To investigate the effect of high atmospheric NO concentrations on crop plants and the role of phytoglobins under these conditions, we performed a long-term study on barley 'Golden Promise' wild type (WT), class 1 phytoglobin knockdown (HvPgb1.1-) and class 1 phytoglobin overexpression (HvPgb1.1+) lines. Plants were cultivated with nitrogen-free nutrient solution during the entire growth period and were fumigated with different NO concentration (ambient, 800, 1500, and 3000 ppb). Analysis of fresh weight, stem number, chlorophyll content, and effective quantum yield of PSII showed that NO fumigation promoted plant growth and tillering significantly in the HvPgb1.1+ line. After 80 d of NO fumigation, dry matter weight, spikes number, kernel number, and plant kernel weight were significantly increased in HvPgb1.1+ plants with increasing NO concentration. In contrast, yield decreased in WT and HvPgb1.1- plants the higher the NO level. Application of atmospheric 15NO and 15NO2 demonstrated NO specificity of phytoglobins. 15N from 15NO could be detected in RNA, DNA, and proteins of barley leaves and the 15N levels were significantly higher in HvPgb1.1+ plants in comparison with HvPgb1.1- and WT plants. Our results demonstrate that overexpression of phytoglobins allows plants to more efficiently use atmospheric NO as N source.

Rice ( Oryza) hemoglobins

Hemoglobins (Hbs) corresponding to non-symbiotic (nsHb) and truncated (tHb) Hbs have been identified in rice ( Oryza). This review discusses the major findings from the current studies on rice Hbs. At the molecular level, a family of the nshb genes, consisting of hb1, hb2, hb3, hb4 and hb5, and a single copy of the thb gene exist in Oryza sativa var. indica and O. sativa var. japonica, Hb transcripts coexist in rice organs and Hb polypeptides exist in rice embryonic and vegetative organs and in the cytoplasm of differentiating cells. At the structural level, the crystal structure of rice Hb1 has been elucidated, and the structures of the other rice Hbs have been modeled. Kinetic analysis indicated that rice Hb1 and 2, and possibly rice Hb3 and 4, exhibit a very high affinity for O ₂, whereas rice Hb5 and tHb possibly exhibit a low to moderate affinity for O ₂. Based on the accumulated information on the properties of rice Hbs and data from the analysis of other plant and non-plant Hbs, it is likely that Hbs play a variety of roles in rice organs, including O ₂-transport, O ₂-sensing, NO-scavenging and redox-signaling. From an evolutionary perspective, an outline for the evolution of rice Hbs is available. Rice nshb and thb genes vertically evolved through different lineages, rice nsHbs evolved into clade I and clade II lineages and rice nshbs and thbs evolved under the effect of neutral selection. This review also reveals lacunae in our ability to completely understand rice Hbs. Primary lacunae are the absence of experimental information about the precise functions of rice Hbs, the properties of modeled rice Hbs and the cis-elements and trans-acting factors that regulate the expression of rice hb genes, and the partial understanding of the evolution of rice Hbs.

Iron bioavailability of maize hemoglobin in a Caco-2 cell culture model

Maize ( Zea mays ) is an important staple crop in many parts of the world but has low iron bioavailability, in part due to its high phytate content. Hemoglobin is a form of iron that is highly bioavailable, and its bioavailability is not inhibited by phytate. It was hypothesized that maize hemoglobin is a highly bioavailable iron source and that biofortification of maize with iron can be accomplished by overexpression of maize globin in the endosperm. Maize was transformed with a gene construct encoding a translational fusion of maize globin and green fluorescent protein under transcriptional control of the maize 27 kDa γ-zein promoter. Iron bioavailability of maize hemoglobin produced in Escherichia coli and of stably transformed seeds expressing the maize globin-GFP fusion was determined using an in vitro Caco-2 cell culture model. Maize flour fortified with maize hemoglobin was found to have iron bioavailability that is not significantly different from that of flour fortified with ferrous sulfate or bovine hemoglobin but is significantly higher than unfortified flour. Transformed maize grain expressing maize globin was found to have iron bioavailability similar to that of untransformed seeds. These results suggest that maize globin produced in E. coli may be an effective iron fortificant, but overexpressing maize globin in maize endosperm may require a different strategy to increase bioavailable iron content in maize.

Non-symbiotic haemoglobins-What's happening beyond nitric oxide scavenging?

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Non-symbiotic haemoglobins have been an active research topic for over 30 years, during which time a considerable portfolio of knowledge has accumulated relative to their chemical and molecular properties, and their presence and mode of induction in plants. While progress has been made towards understanding their physiological role, there remain a number of unanswered questions with respect to their biological function. This review attempts to update recent progress in this area and to introduce a hypothesis as to how non-symbiotic haemoglobins might participate in regulating hormone signal transduction.

PRINCIPAL RESULTS

Advances have been made towards understanding the structural nuances that explain some of the differences in ligand association characteristics of class 1 and class 2 non-symbiotic haemoglobins. Non-symbiotic haemoglobins have been found to function in seed development and germination, flowering, root development and differentiation, abiotic stress responses, pathogen invasion and symbiotic bacterial associations. Microarray analyses under various stress conditions yield uneven results relative to non-symbiotic haemoglobin expression. Increasing evidence of the role of nitric oxide (NO) in hormone responses and the known involvement of non-symbiotic haemoglobins in scavenging NO provide opportunities for fruitful research, particularly at the cellular level.

CONCLUSIONS

Circumstantial evidence suggests that non-symbiotic haemoglobins may have a critical function in the signal transduction pathways of auxin, ethylene, jasmonic acid, salicylic acid, cytokinin and abscisic acid. There is a strong need for research on haemoglobin gene expression at the cellular level relative to hormone signal transduction.

Alternative splicing and differential expression of two transcripts of nicotine adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase B gene from Zea mays

With the exception of rice, little is known about the existence of respiratory burst oxidase homolog (rboh) gene in cereals. The present study reports the cloning and analysis of a novel rboh gene, termed ZmrbohB, from maize (Zea mays L.). The full-length cDNA of ZmrbohB encodes a 942 amino acid protein containing all of the respiratory burst oxidase homolog catalytically critical motifs. Alternative splicing of ZmrbohB has generated two transcript isoforms, ZmrbohB-alpha and -beta. Spliced transcript ZmrbohB-beta retains an unspliced intron 11 that carries a premature termination codon and probably leads to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. Expression analysis showed that two splice isoforms were differentially expressed in various tissues and at different developmental stages, and the major product was ZmrbohB-alpha. The transcripts of ZmrbohB-alpha accumulated markedly when the maize seedlings were subjected to various abiotic stimuli, such as wounding, cold (4 degrees C), heat (40 degrees C), UV and salinity stress. In addition, several abiotic stimuli also affected the alternative splicing pattern of ZmrbohB except wounding. These results provide new insight into roles in the expression regulation of plant rboh genes and suggest that ZmrbohB gene may play a role in response to environmental stresses.

Expression and in silico structural analysis of a rice (Oryza sativa) hemoglobin 5

This work reports the analysis of an additional hemoglobin (hb) gene copy, hb5, in the genome of rice. The amino acid sequence of Hb5 differs from the previously determined rice Hbs 1-4 in missing 11 residues in helix E. Transcripts of hb5 were found to be ubiquitous in rice organs, and hormone- and stress-response promoters exist upstream of the rice hb5 gene. Furthermore, the modeled structure of Hb5 based on the known crystal structure of rice Hb1 is unusual in that the putative distal His is distant from the heme Fe. This observation suggests that Hb5 binds and releases O(2) easily and thus that it functions as an O(2)-carrier or in some aspects of the O(2) metabolism.

The structure and function of plant hemoglobins

Plants, like humans, contain hemoglobin. Three distinct types of hemoglobin exist in plants: symbiotic, non-symbiotic, and truncated hemoglobins. Crystal structures and other structural and biophysical techniques have revealed important knowledge about ligand binding and conformational stabilization in all three types. In symbiotic hemoglobins (leghemoglobins), ligand binding regulatory mechanisms have been shown to differ dramatically from myoglobin and red blood cell hemoglobin. In the non-symbiotic hemoglobins found in all plants, crystal structures and vibrational spectroscopy have revealed the nature of the structural transition between the hexacoordinate and ligand-bound states. In truncated hemoglobins, the abbreviated globin is porous, providing tunnels that may assist in ligand binding, and the bound ligand is stabilized by more than one distal pocket residue. Research has implicated these plant hemoglobins in a number of possible functions differing among hemoglobin types, and possibly between plant species.

A novel nonsymbiotic hemoglobin from oak: cellular and tissue specificity of gene expression

This study presents the isolation and characterization of a novel nonsymbiotic Hb gene from sessile oak (Quercus petraea) seedlings, herein designated QpHb1. The cellular and tissue expression of QpHb1 was analysed by Northern blotting and in situ hybridization. The encoded protein was predicted to consist of 161 amino acid residues, and shares 71 and 51% amino acid sequence identity with the Arabidopsis class 1 and 2 nonsymbiotic Hb, respectively. Northern blot analysis revealed that QpHb1 was strongly expressed in roots. Spatial expression analysis of QpHb1 in the root apical region of sessile oak by in situ hybridization indicated that transcripts were mostly abundant in protoxylem cell initials, some cortical cells and the protoderm. In addition, when comparing the expression profile of QpHb1 in sessile and pedunculate oak (Quercus robur), two species with contrasted hypoxia tolerance, the transcript level of QpHb1 rose early in the most flood-tolerant species, pedunculate oak, during root submergence. The spatial-temporal expression of QpHb1 suggests that this gene could participate in perception and signalling during hypoxia.

Plant hemoglobins: what we know six decades after their discovery

This review describes contributions to the study of plant hemoglobins (Hbs) from a historical perspective with emphasis on non-symbiotic Hbs (nsHbs). Plant Hbs were first identified in soybean root nodules, are known as leghemoglobins (Lbs) and have been characterized in detail. It is widely accepted that a function of Lbs in nodules is to facilitate the diffusion of O(2) to bacteroids. For many years Hbs could not be identified in plants other than N(2)-fixing legumes, however in the 1980s a Hb was isolated from the nodules of the non-legume dicot plant Parasponia, a hb gene was cloned from the non-nodulating Trema, and Hbs were detected in nodules of actinorhizal plants. Gene expression analysis showed that Trema Hb transcripts exist in non-symbiotic roots. In the 1990s nsHb sequences were also identified in monocot and primitive (bryophyte) plants. In addition to Lbs and nsHbs, Hb sequences that are similar to microbial truncated (2/2) Hbs were also detected in plants. Plant nsHbs have been characterized in detail. These proteins have very high O(2)-affinities because of an extremely low O(2)-dissociation constant. Analysis of rice Hb1 showed that distal His coordinates heme Fe and stabilizes bound O(2); this means that O(2) is not released easily from oxygenated nsHbs. Non-symbiotic hb genes are expressed in specific plant tissues, and overexpress in organs of stressed plants. These observations suggest that nsHbs have functions additional to O(2)-transport, such as to modulate levels of ATP and NO.

Modeling the tertiary structure of a maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) non-symbiotic hemoglobin

The tertiary structure of a maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) non-symbiotic hemoglobin (Hbm) was modeled using computer tools and the known tertiary structure of rice Hb1 as a template. This method was tested by predicting the tertiary structure of soybean leghemoglobin a (Lba) using rice Hb1 as a template. The tertiary structures of the predicted and native Lba were similar, indicating that our computer methods could reliably predict the tertiary structures of plant Hbs. We next predicted the tertiary structure of Hbm. Hbm appears to have a long pre-helix A and a large CD-loop. The positions of the distal and proximal His are identical in Hbm and rice Hb1, which suggests that heme-Fe is hexacoordinate in Hbm and that the kinetic properties of Hbm and rice Hb1 are expected to be very similar, i.e. that Hbm has a high O2-affinity. Thermostability analysis showed that Hbm CD-loop is unstable and may provide mobility to amino acids located at the heme pocket for both ligand binding and stabilization and heme-Fe coordination. Analysis of the C-terminal half of Hbm showed the existence of a pocket-like region (the N/C cavity) where interactions with organic molecules or proteins could be possible. Lys K94 protrudes into the N/C cavity, suggesting that K94 may sense the binding of molecules to the N/C cavity. Thus, it is likely that the instability of the CD-loop and the possibility of binding molecules to the N/C cavity are essential for positioning amino acids in the heme pocket and in regulating Hbm activity and function.

Molecular cloning and characterization of cDNAs encoding hemoglobin from wheat (Triticum aestivum) and potato (Solanum tuberosum)

Hemoglobins (Hbs) are heme proteins encountered in all five kingdoms of living organisms. In plants, two different classes of Hbs have been identified: nonsymbiotic (class I) from both monocot and dicot species and symbiotic (class II) Hbs from nitrogen-fixing plants. This work reports the cloning and analysis of three nonsymbiotic Hb genes from wheat (Triticum aestivum) and potato (Solanum tuberosum). The Hb cDNAs were amplified by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using consensus oligonucleotide primers for nonsymbiotic Hbs.A wheat Hb cDNA (TaHb1) was isolated and shows a very high similarity to nonsymbiotic Hbs from Hordeum vulgare (98%) and Zea mays (83%). Another wheat Hb cDNA, designated TaHb2, exhibited strong similarity to truncated bacterial Hbs, the so-called 2-on-2 Hbs. In addition, a third Hb was cloned from potato, StHb. Expression analysis by RT-PCR demonstrated a very high expression level of the TaHb1 gene only in wheat roots. In contrast, the other wheat hemoglobin gene, TaHb2, was demonstrated to be constitutively expressed although differences in expression level in different tissues were observed. The expression of the TaHb1 gene is induced in wheat roots exposed to microaerobic conditions. The potato Hb gene, StHb, was highly expressed in roots and also in tubers and stem tissue although at much reduced levels.