Molecular and Genetic Evidence for the Key Role of AtCaM3 in Heat-Shock Signal Transduction in Arabidopsis

作者:Zhang Wei; Zhou Ren Gang; Gao Ying Jie; Zheng Shu Zhi; Xu Peng; Zhang Su Qiao; Sun Da Ye*
来源:Plant Physiology, 2009, 149(4): 1773-1784.
DOI:10.1104/pp.108.133744

摘要

Heat shock (HS) is a common form of stress suffered by plants. It has been proposed that calmodulin (CaM) is involved in HS signal transduction, but direct evidence has been lacking. To investigate the potential regulatory function of CaM in the HS signal transduction pathway, T-DNA knockout mutants for AtCaM2, AtCaM3, and AtCaM4 were obtained and their thermotolerance tested. Of the three knockout mutant plants, there were no differences compared with wild-type plants under normal conditions. However, the AtCaM3 knockout mutant showed a clear reduction in thermotolerance after heat treatment at 45 degrees C for 50 min. Overexpression of AtCaM3 in either the AtCaM3 knockout or wild-type background significantly rescued or increased the thermotolerance, respectively. Results from electrophoretic mobility-shift assays, real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and western-blot analyses revealed that, after HS, the DNA-binding activity of HS transcription factors, mRNA transcription of HS protein genes, and accumulation of HS protein were down-regulated in the AtCaM3 knockout mutant and up-regulated in the AtCaM3-overexpressing transgenic lines. Taken together, these results suggest that endogenous AtCaM3 is a key component in the Ca(2 )-CaM HS signal transduction pathway.

  • 出版日期2009-4
  • 单位河北省农林科学院遗传生理研究所; 河北师范大学