Advances in the understanding of cuticular waxes in Arabidopsis thaliana and crop species

Brassica crop species are of worldwide importance and are closely related to the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana for which the complete genome sequence has recently been established. We investigated collinearity of marker order by comparing two contrasting regions of the Brassica oleracea genome with homologous regions of A. thaliana. Although there is widespread replication of marker loci in both A. thaliana and B. oleracea, we found that a combination of genetic markers mapped in B. oleracea, including RFLPs, CAPS, and SSRs allowed comparison and interpretation of medium-scale chromosomal organisation and rearrangements. The interpretation of data was facilitated by hybridising probes onto the whole A. thaliana genome, as represented by BAC contigs. Twenty marker loci were sampled from the whole length of the shortest B. oleracea linkage group, O6, and 21 from a 30.4-cM section of the longest linkage group, O3. There is evidence of locus duplication on linkage group O6. Locus order is well conserved between a putative duplicated region of 10.5 cM and a discrete region comprising 25 cM of A. thaliana chromosome I. This was supported by evidence from seven paralogous loci, three of which were duplicated in a 30.6-cM region of linkage group O6. The pattern of locus order for the remainder of linkage group O6 and the sampled section of linkage group O3 was more complex when compared with the A. thaliana genome. Although there was some conservation of locus order between markers on linkage group O3 and approximately 9 cM of A. thaliana chromosome I, this was superimposed upon a complex pattern of additional loci that were replicated in both A. thaliana and B. oleracea. The results are discussed in the context of the ability to use collinear information to assist map-based cloning.Key words: comparative mapping, BAC, physical contig, MADS box.

Download Full-text

Increased Cuticle Waxes by Overexpression of WSD1 Improves Osmotic Stress Tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana and Camelina sativa

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms22105173 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (10) ◽

pp. 5173

Author(s):

Hesham M. Abdullah ◽

Jessica Rodriguez ◽

Jeffrey M. Salacup ◽

Isla S. Castañeda ◽

Danny J. Schnell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Arabidopsis Thaliana ◽

Critical Role ◽

Plant Productivity ◽

Camelina Sativa ◽

Wax Ester ◽

Pcr Analysis ◽

Oilseed Crop ◽

Cuticular Waxes ◽

Changing Climate ◽

Wax Synthase

To ensure global food security under the changing climate, there is a strong need for developing ‘climate resilient crops’ that can thrive and produce better yields under extreme environmental conditions such as drought, salinity, and high temperature. To enhance plant productivity under the adverse conditions, we constitutively overexpressed a bifunctional wax synthase/acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (WSD1) gene, which plays a critical role in wax ester synthesis in Arabidopsis stem and leaf tissues. The qRT-PCR analysis showed a strong upregulation of WSD1 transcripts by mannitol, NaCl, and abscisic acid (ABA) treatments, particularly in Arabidopsis thaliana shoots. Gas chromatography and electron microscopy analyses of Arabidopsis seedlings overexpressing WSD1 showed higher deposition of epicuticular wax crystals and increased leaf and stem wax loading in WSD1 transgenics compared to wildtype (WT) plants. WSD1 transgenics exhibited enhanced tolerance to ABA, mannitol, drought and salinity, which suggested new physiological roles for WSD1 in stress response aside from its wax synthase activity. Transgenic plants were able to recover from drought and salinity better than the WT plants. Furthermore, transgenics showed reduced cuticular transpirational rates and cuticle permeability, as well as less chlorophyll leaching than the WT. The knowledge from Arabidopsis was translated to the oilseed crop Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz. Similar to Arabidopsis, transgenic Camelina lines overexpressing WSD1 also showed enhanced tolerance to drought stress. Our results clearly show that the manipulation of cuticular waxes will be advantageous for enhancing plant productivity under a changing climate.

Download Full-text

Translating Flowering Time From Arabidopsis thaliana to Brassicaceae and Asteraceae Crop Species

Plants ◽

10.3390/plants7040111 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 111 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Willeke Leijten ◽

Ronald Koes ◽

Ilja Roobeek ◽

Giovanna Frugis

Keyword(s):

Arabidopsis Thaliana ◽

Flowering Time ◽

Genetic Network ◽

Day Length ◽

High Yield ◽

Optimal Time ◽

Vegetable Crops ◽

Crop Species ◽

Time Control ◽

Flowering Time Control

Flowering and seed set are essential for plant species to survive, hence plants need to adapt to highly variable environments to flower in the most favorable conditions. Endogenous cues such as plant age and hormones coordinate with the environmental cues like temperature and day length to determine optimal time for the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth. In a breeding context, controlling flowering time would help to speed up the production of new hybrids and produce high yield throughout the year. The flowering time genetic network is extensively studied in the plant model species Arabidopsis thaliana, however this knowledge is still limited in most crops. This article reviews evidence of conservation and divergence of flowering time regulation in A. thaliana with its related crop species in the Brassicaceae and with more distant vegetable crops within the Asteraceae family. Despite the overall conservation of most flowering time pathways in these families, many genes controlling this trait remain elusive, and the function of most Arabidopsis homologs in these crops are yet to be determined. However, the knowledge gathered so far in both model and crop species can be already exploited in vegetable crop breeding for flowering time control.

Download Full-text

Cuticular Waxes on Arabidopsis thaliana Close Relatives Thellungiella halophila and Thellungiella parvula

International Journal of Plant Sciences ◽

10.1086/338825 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 163 (2) ◽

pp. 309-315 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Rebecca S. Teusink ◽

Musrur Rahman ◽

Ray A. Bressan ◽

Matthew A. Jenks

Keyword(s):

Arabidopsis Thaliana ◽

Thellungiella Halophila ◽

Cuticular Waxes ◽

Close Relatives

Download Full-text

Overexpression of ANAC046 Promotes Suberin Biosynthesis in Roots of Arabidopsis thaliana

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms20246117 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (24) ◽

pp. 6117 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kashif Mahmood ◽

Viktoria Valeska Zeisler-Diehl ◽

Lukas Schreiber ◽

Yong-Mei Bi ◽

Steven J. Rothstein ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Arabidopsis Thaliana ◽

Pcr Analysis ◽

Transcription Activator ◽

Cuticular Waxes ◽

Plant Parts ◽

Wide Range ◽

Transgenic Lines ◽

Blue Stain ◽

Root Endodermis

NAC (NAM (no apical meristem), ATAF1/2, and CUC2 (cup-shaped cotyledon)) proteins are one of the largest families of plant-specific transcription factors, and this family is present in a wide range of land plants. Here, we have investigated the role of ANAC046 in the regulation of suberin biosynthesis and deposition in Arabidopsis. Subcellular localization and transcriptional activity assays showed that ANAC046 localizes in the nucleus, where it functions as a transcription activator. Analysis of the PANAC046:GUS lines revealed that ANAC046 is mainly expressed in the root endodermis and periderm, and is also induced in leaves by wounding. The transgenic lines overexpressing ANAC046 exhibited defective surfaces on the aerial plant parts compared to the wild-type (WT) as characterized by increased permeability for Toluidine blue stain and greater chlorophyll leaching. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed that the expression of suberin biosynthesis genes was significantly higher in the roots and leaves of overexpression lines compared to the WT. The biochemical analysis of leaf cuticular waxes showed that the overexpression lines accumulated 30% more waxes than the WT. Concurrently, overexpression lines also deposited almost twice the amount of suberin content in their roots compared with the WT. Taken together, these results showed that ANAC046 is an important transcription factor that promotes suberin biosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana roots.

Download Full-text

Biotechnological Potential of LSD1, EDS1, and PAD4 in the Improvement of Crops and Industrial Plants

Plants ◽

10.3390/plants8080290 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (8) ◽

pp. 290 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Maciej Jerzy Bernacki ◽

Weronika Czarnocka ◽

Magdalena Szechyńska-Hebda ◽

Ron Mittler ◽

Stanisław Karpiński

Keyword(s):

Arabidopsis Thaliana ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Cell Walls ◽

Crop Species ◽

Quarter Century ◽

Biotechnological Potential ◽

Industrial Plants ◽

Secondary Messengers ◽

Use Efficiency ◽

Industrial Use

Lesion Simulating Disease 1 (LSD1), Enhanced Disease Susceptibility (EDS1) and Phytoalexin Deficient 4 (PAD4) were discovered a quarter century ago as regulators of programmed cell death and biotic stress responses in Arabidopsis thaliana. Recent studies have demonstrated that these proteins are also required for acclimation responses to various abiotic stresses, such as high light, UV radiation, drought and cold, and that their function is mediated through secondary messengers, such as salicylic acid (SA), reactive oxygen species (ROS), ethylene (ET) and other signaling molecules. Furthermore, LSD1, EDS1 and PAD4 were recently shown to be involved in the modification of cell walls, and the regulation of seed yield, biomass production and water use efficiency. The function of these proteins was not only demonstrated in model plants, such as Arabidopsis thaliana or Nicotiana benthamiana, but also in the woody plant Populus tremula x tremuloides. In addition, orthologs of LSD1, EDS1, and PAD4 were found in other plant species, including different crop species. In this review, we focus on specific LSD1, EDS1 and PAD4 features that make them potentially important for agricultural and industrial use.

Download Full-text

Collinearity between a 30-centimorgan segment of Arabidopsis thaliana chromosome 4 and duplicated regions within the Brassica napus genome

Genome ◽

10.1139/g97-097 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 41 (1) ◽

pp. 62-69 ◽

Cited By ~ 90

Author(s):

A C Cavell ◽

D J Lydiate ◽

IAP Parkin ◽

C Dean ◽

M Trick

Keyword(s):

Arabidopsis Thaliana ◽

Brassica Napus ◽

Physical Map ◽

Brassica Species ◽

Single Copy ◽

Genetic Maps ◽

Haploid Genome ◽

Chromosome 4 ◽

Crop Species ◽

Brassica Crop

Arabidopsis thaliana (the model dicotyledonous plant) is closely related to Brassica crop species. Genome collinearity, or conservation of marker order, between Brassica napus (oilseed rape) and A. thaliana was assessed over a 7.5-Mbp region of the long arm of A. thaliana chromosome 4, equivalent to 30 cM. Estimates of copy number indicated that sequences present in a single copy in the haploid genome of A. thaliana (n = 5) were present in 2-8 copies in the haploid genome of B. napus (n = 19), while sequences present in multiple copies in A. thaliana were present in over 10 copies in B. napus. Genetic mapping in B. napus of DNA markers derived from a segment of A. thaliana chromosome 4 revealed duplicated homologous segments in the B. napus genome. Physical mapping in A. thaliana of homologues of Brassica clones derived from these regions confirmed the identity of six duplicated segments with substantial homology to the 7.5-Mbp region of chromosome 4 in A. thaliana. These six duplicated Brassica regions (on average 22cM in length) are collinear, except that two of the six copies contain the same large internal inversion. These results have encouraging implications for the feasibility of shuttling between the physical map of A. thaliana and genetic maps of Brassica species, for identifying candidate genes and for map based gene cloning in Brassica crops.

Download Full-text