Glc has hormone-like functions and controls many vital processes through mostly unknown mechanisms in plants. We report here on the molecular cloning of GLUCOSE INSENSITIVE1 (GIN1) and ABSCISIC ACID DEFICIENT2 (ABA2) which encodes a unique Arabidopsis short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR1) that functions as a molecular link between nutrient signaling and plant hormone biosynthesis. SDR1 is related to SDR superfamily members involved in retinoid and steroid hormone biosynthesis in mammals and sex determination in maize. Glc antagonizes ethylene signaling by activating ABA2/GIN1 and other abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis and signaling genes, which requires Glc and ABA synergistically. Analyses of aba2/gin1 null mutants define dual functions of endogenous ABA in inhibiting the postgermination developmental switch modulated by distinct Glc and osmotic signals and in promoting organ and body size and fertility in the absence of severe stress. SDR1 is sufficient for the multistep conversion of plastid- and carotenoid-derived xanthoxin to abscisic aldehyde in the cytosol. The surprisingly restricted spatial and temporal expression of SDR1 suggests the dynamic mobilization of ABA precursors and/or ABA.

Bioactive gibberellins (GAs) are phytohormones that regulate growth and development throughout the life cycle of plants. DELLA proteins are conserved growth repressors that modulate all aspects of GA responses. These GA-signaling repressors are nuclear localized and likely function as transcriptional regulators. Recent studies demonstrated that GA, upon binding to its receptor, derepresses its signaling pathway by binding directly to DELLA proteins and targeting them for rapid degradation via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Therefore, elucidating the signaling events immediately downstream of DELLA is key to our understanding of how GA controls plant development. Two sets of microarray studies followed by quantitative RT-PCR analysis allowed us to identify 14 early GA-responsive genes that are also early DELLA-responsive in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings. Chromatin immunoprecipitation provided evidence for in vivo association of DELLA with promoters of eight of these putative DELLA target genes. Expression of all 14 genes was downregulated by GA and upregulated by DELLA. Our study reveals that DELLA proteins play two important roles in GA signaling: (1) they help establish GA homeostasis by direct feedback regulation on the expression of GA biosynthetic and GA receptor genes, and (2) they promote the expression of downstream negative components that are putative transcription factors/regulators or ubiquitin E2/E3 enzymes. In addition, one of the putative DELLA targets, XERICO, promotes accumulation of abscisic acid (ABA) that antagonizes GA effects. Therefore, DELLA may restrict GA-promoted processes by modulating both GA and ABA pathways.

SummaryIn a wide range of plant species, seed germination is regulated antagonistically by two plant hormones, abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellin (GA). In the present study, we have revealed that ABA metabolism (both biosynthesis and inactivation) was phytochrome-regulated in an opposite fashion to GA metabolism during photoreversible seed germination in Arabidopsis. Endogenous ABA levels were decreased by irradiation with a red (R) light pulse in dark-imbibed seeds pre-treated with a far-red (FR) light pulse, and the reduction in ABA levels in response to R light was inhibited in a phytochrome B (PHYB)-deficient mutant. Expression of an ABA biosynthesis gene, AtNCED6, and the inactivation gene, CYP707A2, was regulated in a photoreversible manner, suggesting a key role for the genes in PHYB-mediated regulation of ABA metabolism. Abscisic aciddeficient mutants such as nced6-1, aba2-2 and aao3-4 exhibited an enhanced ability to germinate relative to wild type when imbibed in the dark after irradiation with an FR light pulse. In addition, the ability to synthesize GA was improved in the aba2-2 mutant compared with wild type during dark-imbibition after an FR light pulse. Activation of GA biosynthesis in the aba2-2 mutant was also observed during seed development. These data indicate that ABA is involved in the suppression of GA biosynthesis in both imbibed and developing seeds. Spatial expression patterns of the AtABA2 and AAO3 genes, responsible for last two steps of ABA biosynthesis, were distinct from that of the GA biosynthesis gene, AtGA3ox2, in both imbibed and developing seeds, suggesting that biosynthesis of ABA and GA in seeds occurs in different cell types.

Abscisic acid (ABA) is an essential molecule in plant abiotic stress responses. It binds to soluble pyrabactin resistance1/PYR1-like/ regulatory component of ABA receptor receptors and stabilizes them in a conformation that inhibits clade A type II C protein phosphatases; this leads to downstream SnRK2 kinase activation and numerous cellular outputs. We previously described the synthetic naphthalene sulfonamide ABA agonist pyrabactin, which activates seed ABA responses but fails to trigger substantial responses in vegetative tissues in Arabidopsis thaliana. Here we describe quinabactin, a sulfonamide ABA agonist that preferentially activates dimeric ABA receptors and possesses ABA-like potency in vivo. In Arabidopsis, the transcriptional responses induced by quinabactin are highly correlated with those induced by ABA treatments. Quinabactin treatments elicit guard cell closure, suppress water loss, and promote drought tolerance in adult Arabidopsis and soybean plants. The effects of quinabactin are sufficiently similar to those of ABA that it is able to rescue multiple phenotypes observed in the ABA-deficient mutant aba2. Genetic analyses show that quinabactin's effects in vegetative tissues are primarily mediated by dimeric ABA receptors. A PYL2-quinabactin-HAB1 X-ray crystal structure solved at 1.98-Å resolution shows that quinabactin forms a hydrogen bond with the receptor/PP2C "lock" hydrogen bond network, a structural feature absent in pyrabactin-receptor/PP2C complexes. Our results demonstrate that ABA receptors can be chemically controlled to enable plant protection against water stress and define the dimeric receptors as key targets for chemical modulation of vegetative ABA responses.

The regulation of abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis is essential for plant responses to drought stress. In this study, we examined the tissue-specific localization of ABA biosynthetic enzymes in turgid and dehydrated Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants using specific antibodies against 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase 3 (AtNCED3), AtABA2, and Arabidopsis aldehyde oxidase 3 (AAO3). Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that in turgid plants, AtABA2 and AAO3 proteins were localized in vascular parenchyma cells most abundantly at the boundary between xylem and phloem bundles, but the AtNCED3 protein was undetectable in these tissues. In water-stressed plants, AtNCED3 was detected exclusively in the vascular parenchyma cells together with AtABA2 and AAO3. In situ hybridization using the antisense probe for AtNCED3 showed that the drought-induced expression of AtNCED3 was also restricted to the vascular tissues. Expression analysis of laser-microdissected cells revealed that, among nine drought-inducible genes examined, the early induction of most genes was spatially restricted to vascular cells at 1 h and then some spread to mesophyll cells at 3 h. The spatial constraint of AtNCED3 expression in vascular tissues provides a novel insight into plant systemic response to drought stresses.

CRISPR/Cas9 systems are nowadays applied extensively to effect genome editing in various organisms including plants. CRISPR from Prevotella and Francisella 1 (Cpf1) is a newly characterized RNA-guided endonuclease that has two distinct features as compared to Cas9. First, Cpf1 utilizes a thymidine-rich protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) while Cas9 prefers a guanidine-rich PAM. Cpf1 could be used as a sequence-specific nuclease to target AT-rich regions of a genome that Cas9 had difficulty accessing. Second, Cpf1 generates DNA ends with a 5′ overhang, whereas Cas9 creates blunt DNA ends after cleavage. “Sticky” DNA ends should increase the efficiency of insertion of a desired DNA fragment into the Cpf1-cleaved site using complementary DNA ends. Therefore, Cpf1 could be a potent tool for precise genome engineering. To evaluate whether Cpf1 can be applied to plant genome editing, we selected Cpf1 from Francisella novicida (FnCpf1), which recognizes a shorter PAM (TTN) within known Cpf1 proteins, and applied it to targeted mutagenesis in tobacco and rice. Our results show that targeted mutagenesis had occurred in transgenic plants expressing FnCpf1 with crRNA. Deletions of the targeted region were the most frequently observed mutations. Our results demonstrate that FnCpf1 can be applied successfully to genome engineering in plants.

Seeds respond to multiple different environmental stimuli that regulate germination. Nitrate stimulates germination in many plants but how it does so remains unclear. Here we show that the Arabidopsis NIN-like protein 8 (NLP8) is essential for nitrate-promoted seed germination. Seed germination in nlp8 loss-of-function mutants does not respond to nitrate. NLP8 functions even in a nitrate reductase-deficient mutant background, and the requirement for NLP8 is conserved among Arabidopsis accessions. NLP8 reduces abscisic acid levels in a nitrate-dependent manner and directly binds to the promoter of CYP707A2, encoding an abscisic acid catabolic enzyme. Genetic analysis shows that NLP8-mediated promotion of seed germination by nitrate requires CYP707A2. Finally, we show that NLP8 localizes to nuclei and unlike NLP7, does not appear to be activated by nitrate-dependent nuclear retention of NLP7, suggesting that seeds have a unique mechanism for nitrate signalling.

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