By performing molecular studies coupled to radiation experiments and in silico systems analyses, we have ascertained the role of the grapevine UV-B receptor and two HY5 homologues in regulating flavonol synthesis.

Protein modification by SUMO modulates essential biological processes in eukaryotes. SUMOylation is facilitated by sequential action of the E1-activating, E2-conjugating, and E3-ligase enzymes. In plants, SUMO regulates plant development and stress responses, which are key determinants in agricultural productivity. To generate additional tools for advancing our knowledge about the SUMO biology, we have developed a strategy for inhibiting in vivo SUMO conjugation based on disruption of SUMO E1-E2 interactions through expression of E1 SAE2 domain. Targeted mutagenesis and phylogenetic analyses revealed that this inhibition involves a short motif in SAE2 highly divergent across kingdoms. Transgenic plants expressing the SAE2 domain displayed dose-dependent inhibition of SUMO conjugation, and have revealed the existence of a post-transcriptional mechanism that regulates SUMO E2 conjugating enzyme levels. Interestingly, these transgenic plants displayed increased susceptibility to necrotrophic fungal infections by Botrytis cinerea and Plectosphaerella cucumerina. Early after fungal inoculation, host SUMO conjugation was post-transcriptionally downregulated, suggesting that targeting SUMOylation machinery could constitute a novel mechanism for fungal pathogenicity. These findings support the role of SUMOylation as a mechanism involved in plant protection from environmental stresses. In addition, the strategy for inhibiting SUMO conjugation in vivo described in this study might be applicable in important crop plants and other non-plant organisms regardless of their genetic complexity.

Post-translational modification by Small Ubiquitin-related Modifier (SUMO) is an essential regulatory mechanism in eukaryotes. In the cell, SUMO conjugates are highly enriched in the nucleus and, consistently, SUMOylation machinery components are mainly nuclear. Nonetheless, cytosolic SUMO targets also exist and the mechanisms that facilitate SUMO conjugation in the cytosol are unknown. Here, we show that the nuclear localization of the Arabidopsis SUMO activating enzyme large subunit SAE2 is dependent on two nuclear localization signals, the canonical NLS1 and the non-canonical NLS2 identified and validated here. NLS2 is proteolytic processed from SAE2 during seed development, facilitating SAE2 enrichment in the cytosol. Results obtained using transgenic plants expressing different SAE2 proteoforms suggest that SAE2 cytosolic enrichment could constitute a rapid signal for growth arrest. Phylogenetic studies indicated that the Arabidopsis NLS1-NLS2 structural organization is conserved only in seed plants, providing a potential evolutionary role of cytosolic SUMOylation in seed appearance.

Different studies point to an enrichment in SUMO conjugation in the cell nucleus, although non-nuclear SUMO targets also exist. In general, the study of subcellular localization of proteins is essential for understanding their function within a cell. Fluorescence microscopy is a powerful tool for studying subcellular protein partitioning in living cells, since fluorescent proteins can be fused to proteins of interest to determine their localization. Subcellular distribution of proteins can be influenced by binding to other biomolecules and by posttranslational modifications. Sometimes these changes affect only a portion of the protein pool or have a partial effect, and a quantitative evaluation of fluorescence images is required to identify protein redistribution among subcellular compartments. In order to obtain accurate data about the relative subcellular distribution of SUMO conjugation machinery members, and to identify the molecular determinants involved in their localization, we have applied quantitative confocal microscopy imaging. In this chapter, we will describe the fluorescent protein fusions used in these experiments, and how to measure, evaluate, and compare average fluorescence intensities in cellular compartments by image-based analysis. We show the distribution of some components of the Arabidopsis SUMOylation machinery in epidermal onion cells and how they change their distribution in the presence of interacting partners or even when its activity is affected.