Infertility treatment: a nuclear restorer gene in maize

mRNA differential display between sterile and fertile anther of rice and analysis of cDNA differential fragments

Rice anther and leaf mRNAs from two cytoplasmic male sterile lines (Maxie A and Congguong 41A) were compared with those from their maintainers and F(1) hybrids by using mRNA differential display to study gene expression pattern in sterile anther during pollen abortion. Anther cDNA differential bands between sterile and fertile plants were more than those of leaf. It was indicated that the expression of fertility gene(s) in the anther was more activable and sufficient than in the leaf. The gene transcript pattern in one of different types of anther was not only associated with its pollen sterility degree but also with its stage of pollen abortion. The anthers with full or partial sterility or with early abortion produced more cDNA differential bands than those fertile or late abortion anthers. In twelve recovered differential cDNA fragments, two were probably associated with male sterility, i. e. one is (AB(4)A(5)), which was specifically expressed in the sterile anther, and the other (AB(3)B(2)), which contained some sequence homologous to a mitochondrial gene (coxII) and whose expression was partially suppressed in the sterile anther.

Apoptosis prevention as a mechanism of immune evasion

When cells are infected with viruses, they may trigger their apoptosis programs. In unicellular organisms, this may have protected cell populations by limiting viral replication from infected cells. Multicellular organisms can also trigger the apoptosis program after viral infection. In response, viruses have evolved a wide variety of inhibitors of apoptosis. In higher organisms, the outcome of viral infections is largely determined by the immune system. Since apoptosis is intimately linked to the function and regulation of the immune system, the ability of viruses to inhibit apoptosis could profoundly alter the immune response. Viral antiapoptotic proteins could protect infected cells from apoptosis induced by cytotoxic lymphocytes, alter antigen cross-presentation and the priming of the immune response, or modulate the expression of danger signals from sites of infection. The virus/host interaction is likely to provide useful lessons regarding the workings of the mammalian immune system.

Sensitivity to Alternaria alternata toxin in citrus because of altered mitochondrial RNA processing

Specificity in the interaction between rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri Lush.) and the fungal pathogen Alternaria alternata rough lemon pathotype is determined by a host-selective toxin, ACR-toxin. Mitochondria from rough lemon are sensitive to ACR-toxin whereas mitochondria from resistant plants, including other citrus species, are resistant. We have identified a C. jambhiri mitochondrial DNA sequence, designated ACRS (ACR-toxin sensitivity gene), that confers toxin sensitivity to Escherichia coli. ACRS is located in the group II intron of the mitochondrial tRNA-Ala and is translated into a SDS-resistant oligomeric protein in C. jambhiri mitochondria but is not translated in the toxin-insensitive mitochondria. ACRS is present in the mitochondrial genome of both toxin-sensitive and -insensitive citrus. However, in mitochondria of toxin-insensitive plants, the transcripts from ACRS are shorter than those in mitochondria of sensitive plants. These results demonstrate that sensitivity to ACR-toxin and hence specificity of the interaction between A. alternata rough lemon pathotype and C. jambhiri is due to differential posttranscriptional processing of a mitochondrial gene.

Cell type-specific loss of atp6 RNA editing in cytoplasmic male sterile Sorghum bicolor

RNA editing and cytoplasmic male sterility are two important phenomena in higher plant mitochondria. To determine whether correlations might exist between the two, RNA editing in different tissues of Sorghum bicolor was compared employing reverse transcription-PCR and subsequent sequence analysis. In etiolated shoots, RNA editing of transcripts of plant mitochondrial atp6, atp9, nad3, nad4, and rps12 genes was identical among fertile or cytoplasmic male sterile plants. We then established a protocol for mitochondrial RNA isolation from plant anthers and pollen to include in these studies. Whereas RNA editing of atp9, nad3, nad4, and rps12 transcripts in anthers was similar to etiolated shoots, mitochondrial atp6 RNA editing was strongly reduced in anthers of the A3Tx398 male sterile line of S. bicolor. atp6 transcripts of wheat and selected plastid transcripts in S. bicolor showed normal RNA editing, indicating that loss of atp6 RNA editing is specific for cytoplasmic male sterility S. bicolor mitochondria. Restoration of fertility in F1 and F2 lines correlated with an increase in RNA editing of atp6 transcripts. Our data suggest that loss of atp6 RNA editing contributes to or causes cytoplasmic male sterility in S. bicolor. Further analysis of the mechanism of cell type-specific loss of atp6 RNA editing activity may advance our understanding of the mechanism of RNA editing.