No abstract

The late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are plant proteins that are synthesized at the onset of desiccation in maturing seeds and in vegetative organs exposed to water deficit. Here, we show that most LEA proteins are comprised in a more widespread group, which we call "hydrophilins." The defining characteristics of hydrophilins are high glycine content (>6%) and a high hydrophilicity index (>1.0). By data base searching, we show that this criterion selectively differentiates most known LEA proteins as well as additional proteins from different taxons. We found that within the genomes of Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, only 5 and 12 proteins, respectively, meet our criterion. Despite their deceivingly loose definition, hydrophilins usually represent <0.2% of the proteins of a genome. Additionally, we demonstrate that the criterion that defines hydrophilins seems to be an excellent predictor of responsiveness to hyperosmosis since most of the genes encoding these proteins in E. coli and S. cerevisiae are induced by osmotic stress. Evidence for the participation of one of the E. coli hydrophilins in the adaptive response to hyperosmotic conditions is presented. Apparently, hydrophilins represent analogous adaptations to a common problem in such diverse taxons as prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small RNA molecules recognized as important regulators of gene expression. Although plant miRNAs have been extensively studied in model systems, less is known in other plants with limited genome sequence data. We are interested in the identification of miRNAs in Phaseolus vulgaris (common bean) to uncover different plant strategies to cope with adverse conditions and because of its relevance as a crop in developing countries. Here we present the identification of conserved and candidate novel miRNAs in P. vulgaris present in different organs and growth conditions, including drought, abscisic acid treatment, and Rhizobium infection. We also identified cDNA sequences in public databases that represent the corresponding miRNA precursors. In addition, we predicted and validated target mRNAs amongst reported EST and cDNAs for P. vulgaris. We propose that the novel miRNAs present in common bean and other legumes, are involved in regulation of legume-specific processes including adaptation to diverse external cues.

ABSTRACT. To gain insight into the function of hydrophilins, an in vitro assay was developed in which the enzymes malate dehydrogenase (MDH) or lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) are subjected to controlled partial water removal. Subtle changes in conformation during partial water removal were detected using 1-anilinonaphtalene-8-sulphonate (ANS), a fluorescent probe, whose emission at 460 nm increases when bound to hydrophobic groups. The results show that water limitation conditions imposed in this in vitro assay induce changes in MDH or LDH protein structures, which correlate with enzyme inactivation. It is also shown that plant, fungal and bacterial hydrophilins are able to protect enzymatic activities from water-loss effects in this in vitro system, in a wide range of water potentials. In addition, the data in this work indicate that the presence of hydrophilins also avoids the MDH and LDH conformational modifications caused during the assay. These results show that hydrophilins are able to protect enzymatic activities from inactivation due to in vitro partial water limitation and thus suggest a function for these proteins in vivo.

Late-Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) proteins accumulate to high levels during the last stages of seed development, when desiccation tolerance is acquired, and in vegetative and reproductive tissues under water deficit, leading to the hypothesis that these proteins play a role in the adaptation of plants to this stress condition. In this work, we obtained the accumulation patterns of the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) group 4 LEA proteins during different developmental stages and plant organs in response to water deficit. We demonstrate that overexpression of a representative member of this group of proteins confers tolerance to severe drought in Arabidopsis plants. Moreover, we show that deficiency of LEA proteins in this group leads to susceptible phenotypes upon water limitation, during germination, or in mature plants after recovery from severe dehydration. Upon recovery from this stress condition, mutant plants showed a reduced number of floral and axillary buds when compared with wild-type plants. The lack of these proteins also correlates with a reduced seed production under optimal irrigation, supporting a role in fruit and/or seed development. A bioinformatic analysis of group 4 LEA proteins from many plant genera showed that there are two subgroups, originated through ancient gene duplication and a subsequent functional specialization. This study represents, to our knowledge, the first genetic evidence showing that one of the LEA protein groups is directly involved in the adaptive response of higher plants to water deficit, and it provides data indicating that the function of these proteins is not redundant to that of the other LEA proteins.