Plant nutrition is one of the important areas for improving the yield and quality in crops as well as non-crop plants. Potassium is an essential plant nutrient and is required in abundance for their proper growth and development. Potassium deficiency directly affects the plant growth and hence crop yield and production. Recently, potassium-dependent transcriptomic analysis has been performed in the model plant Arabidopsis, however in cereals and crop plants; such a transcriptome analysis has not been undertaken till date. In rice, the molecular mechanism for the regulation of potassium starvation responses has not been investigated in detail. Here, we present a combined physiological and whole genome transcriptomic study of rice seedlings exposed to a brief period of potassium deficiency then replenished with potassium. Our results reveal that the expressions of a diverse set of genes annotated with many distinct functions were altered under potassium deprivation. Our findings highlight altered expression patterns of potassium-responsive genes majorly involved in metabolic processes, stress responses, signaling pathways, transcriptional regulation, and transport of multiple molecules including K+. Interestingly, several genes responsive to low-potassium conditions show a reversal in expression upon resupply of potassium. The results of this study indicate that potassium deprivation leads to activation of multiple genes and gene networks, which may be acting in concert to sense the external potassium and mediate uptake, distribution and ultimately adaptation to low potassium conditions. The interplay of both upregulated and downregulated genes globally in response to potassium deprivation determines how plants cope with the stress of nutrient deficiency at different physiological as well as developmental stages of plants.

BackgroundPhospholipase A (PLA) is an important group of enzymes responsible for phospholipid hydrolysis in lipid signaling. PLAs have been implicated in abiotic stress signaling and developmental events in various plants species. Genome-wide analysis of PLA superfamily has been carried out in dicot plant Arabidopsis. A comprehensive genome-wide analysis of PLAs has not been presented yet in crop plant rice.Methodology/Principal FindingsA comprehensive bioinformatics analysis identified a total of 31 PLA encoding genes in the rice genome, which are divided into three classes; phospholipase A1 (PLA1), patatin like phospholipases (pPLA) and low molecular weight secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) based on their sequences and phylogeny. A subset of 10 rice PLAs exhibited chromosomal duplication, emphasizing the role of duplication in the expansion of this gene family in rice. Microarray expression profiling revealed a number of PLA members expressing differentially and significantly under abiotic stresses and reproductive development. Comparative expression analysis with Arabidopsis PLAs revealed a high degree of functional conservation between the orthologs in two plant species, which also indicated the vital role of PLAs in stress signaling and plant development across different plant species. Moreover, sub-cellular localization of a few candidates suggests their differential localization and functional role in the lipid signaling.Conclusion/SignificanceThe comprehensive analysis and expression profiling would provide a critical platform for the functional characterization of the candidate PLA genes in crop plants.

Genes in the Armadillo (ARM)-repeat superfamily encode proteins with a range of developmental and physiological processes in unicellular and multicellular eukaryotes. These 42 amino acid, long tandem repeat-containing proteins have been abundantly recognized in many plant species. Previous studies have confirmed that Armadillo proteins constitute a multigene family in Arabidopsis. In this study, we performed a computational analysis in the rice genome (Oryza sativa L. subsp. japonica), and identified 158 genes of Armadillo superfamily. Phylogenetic study classified them into several arbitrary groups based on a varying number of non-conserved ARM repeats and accessory domain(s) associated with them. An in-depth analysis of gene expression through microarray and Q-PCR revealed a number of ARM proteins expressing differentially in abiotic stresses and developmental conditions, suggesting a potential roles of this superfamily in development and stress signalling. Comparative phylogenetic analysis between Arabidopsis and rice Armadillo genes revealed a high degree of evolutionary conservation between the orthologues in two plant species. The non-synonymous and synonymous substitutions per site ratios (Ka/Ks) of duplicated gene pairs indicate a purifying selection. This genome-wide identification and expression analysis provides a basis for further functional analysis of Armadillo genes under abiotic stress and reproductive developmental condition in the plant lineage.

The review highlights the need to broaden our scope of K+ research from single elements to multielements, from coding sequences to whole genes, and from isolated plants to the whole ecosystem.

Reversible protein phosphorylation is a crucial regulatory mechanism that controls many biological processes in eukaryotes. In plants, phosphorylation events primarily occur on serine (Ser) and threonine (Thr) residues, while in certain cases, it was also discovered on tyrosine (Tyr) residues. In contrary to plants, extensive reports on Tyr phosphorylation regulating a large numbers of biological processes exist in animals. Despite of such prodigious function in animals, Tyr phosphorylation is a least studied mechanism of protein regulation in plants. Recently, various chemical analytical procedures have strengthened the view that Tyr phosphorylation is equally prevalent in plants as in animals. However, regardless of Tyr phosphorylation events occuring in plants, no evidence could be found for the existence of gene encoding for Tyr phosphorylation i.e. the typical Tyr kinases. Various methodologies have suggested that plant responses to stress signals and developmental processes involved modifications in protein Tyr phosphorylation. Correspondingly, various reports have established the role of PTPs (Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases) in the dephosphorylation and inactivation of mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs) hence, in the regulation of MAPK signaling cascade. Besides this, many dual specificity protein phosphatases (DSPs) are also known to bind starch and regulate starch metabolism through reversible phosphorylation. Here, we are emphasizing the significant progress on protein Tyr phosphatases to understand the role of these enzymes in the regulation of post-translational modification in plant physiology and development.