A Mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana with a Reduced Response to Fusicoccin. I

Natural compounds as next-generation herbicides

Herbicides with new modes of action (MOAs) are badly needed due to the rapidly evolving resistance to commercial herbicides, but a new MOA has not been introduced in over 20 years. The greatest pest management challenge for organic agriculture is the lack of effective natural product herbicides. The structural diversity and evolved biological activity of natural phytotoxins offer opportunities for the development of both directly used natural compounds and synthetic herbicides with new target sites based on the structures of natural phytotoxins. Natural phytotoxins are also a source for the discovery of new herbicide target sites that can serve as the focus of traditional herbicide discovery efforts. There are many examples of strong natural phytotoxins with MOAs other than those used by commercial herbicides, which indicates that there are molecular targets of herbicides that can be added to the current repertoire of commercial herbicide MOAs.

Modes of action of microbially-produced phytotoxins

Some of the most potent phytotoxins are synthesized by microbes. A few of these share molecular target sites with some synthetic herbicides, but many microbial toxins have unique target sites with potential for exploitation by the herbicide industry. Compounds from both non-pathogenic and pathogenic microbes are discussed. Microbial phytotoxins with modes of action the same as those of commercial herbicides and those with novel modes of action of action are covered. Examples of the compounds discussed are tentoxin, AAL-toxin, auscaulitoxin aglycone, hydantocidin, thaxtomin, and tabtoxin.

RD20, a stress-inducible caleosin, participates in stomatal control, transpiration and drought tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana

Plants overcome water deficit conditions by combining molecular, biochemical and morphological changes. At the molecular level, many stress-responsive genes have been isolated, but knowledge of their physiological functions remains fragmentary. Here, we report data for RD20, a stress-inducible Arabidopsis gene that belongs to the caleosin family. As for other caleosins, we showed that RD20 localized to oil bodies. Although caleosins are thought to play a role in the degradation of lipids during seed germination, induction of RD20 by dehydration, salt stress and ABA suggests that RD20 might be involved in processes other than germination. Using plants carrying the promoter RD20::uidA construct, we show that RD20 is expressed in leaves, guard cells and flowers, but not in root or in mature seeds. Water deficit triggers a transient increase in RD20 expression in leaves that appeared predominantly dependent on ABA signaling. To assess the biological significance of these data, a functional analysis using rd20 knock-out and overexpressing complemented lines cultivated either in standard or in water deficit conditions was performed. The rd20 knock-out plants present a higher transpiration rate that correlates with enhanced stomatal opening and a reduced tolerance to drought as compared with the wild type. These results support a role for RD20 in drought tolerance through stomatal control under water deficit conditions.

Antisense reduction of thylakoidal ascorbate peroxidase in Arabidopsis enhances paraquat-induced photooxidative stress and nitric oxide-induced cell death

The production and characterization of Arabidopsis plants containing a transgene in which the Arabidopsis tAPX is inserted in antisense orientation, is described. tAPX activity in these transgenic tAPX plants is around 50% of control level. The tAPX antisense plants are phenotypically indistinguishable from control plants under normal growth conditions; they show, however, enhanced sensitivity to the O2- -generating herbicide, Paraquat. Interestingly, the tAPX antisense plants show enhanced symptoms of damage when cell death is triggered through treatment with the nitric oxide-donor, SNP. These results are in accordance with the ones recently obtained with transgenic plants overexpressing tAPX; altogether, they suggest that tAPX, besides the known ROS scavenging role, is also involved in the fine changes of H2O2 concentration during signaling events.

Arabidopsis thaliana plants overexpressing thylakoidal ascorbate peroxidase show increased resistance to Paraquat-induced photooxidative stress and to nitric oxide-induced cell death

Ascorbate peroxidases (APX), localized in the cytosol, peroxisomes, mitochondria and chloroplasts of plant cells, catalyze the reduction of H(2)O(2) to water by using ascorbic acid (ASA) as specific electron donor. The chloroplastic isoenzymes of APX are involved in the water-water cycle, which contributes to the photophosphorylation coupled to the photosynthetic electron transport. In order to better clarify the contribution of thylakoidal APX (tAPX) to the reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging activity, as well as to the fine modulation of ROS for signaling, we produced Arabidopsis lines overexpressing tAPX. These lines show an increased resistance to treatment with the O(2)(-) generating herbicide Paraquat (Pq). However, when challenged with photoinhibitory treatments at high light or low temperature, or with iron (Fe) or copper (Cu) overload, the tAPX-overexpressing lines show no increased resistance with respect to controls, indicating that in such experimental conditions, tAPX overexpression does not reinforce plant defenses against the oxidative stresses tested. Interestingly, the nitric oxide (NO)-donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) represses accumulation of tAPX transcript; SNP also partially inhibits tAPX enzymatic activity. After treatment with SNP, the tAPX-overexpressing lines show reduced symptoms of damage with respect to control plants treated with SNP. These transgenic lines confirm that H(2)O(2) acts in partnership with NO in causing cell death and highlight the important role of tAPX in the fine modulation of H(2)O(2) for signaling.

Flower stalk segments of Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Columbia lack the capacity to grow in response to exogenously applied auxin

Exogenously applied IAA stimulated cell elongation of segments excised from flower stalks of Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Landsberg erecta (Ler) by increasing the cell wall extensibility, but it did not affect that of ecotype Columbia (Col). Treatment with a low pH buffer solution (pH 4.0) or fusicoccin (FC), a reagent activating H(+)-ATPases, significantly increased the cell wall extensibility and promoted elongation growth of flower stalk segments of both ecotypes, indicating that the flower stalk segments of Col possess the capacity to grow under acidic pH conditions. IAA promoted the proton excretion in segments of Ler but not of Col. On the other hand, FC increased the proton excretion in segments of Col as much as that of Ler. These results suggest that IAA activates the plasma membrane H(+)-ATPases in the segments of Ler but not those of Col, while FC activates them in both ecotypes. Flower stalks of Col may lack the mechanisms of activation by IAA of the plasma membrane H(+)-ATPases.