Intracellular calcium transients during plant-pathogen interactions are necessary early events leading to local and systemic acquired resistance. Salicylic acid, a critical messenger, is also required for both of these responses, but whether and how salicylic acid level is regulated by Ca(2+) signalling during plant-pathogen interaction is unclear. Here we report a mechanism connecting Ca(2+) signal to salicylic-acid-mediated immune response through calmodulin, AtSR1 (also known as CAMTA3), a Ca(2+)/calmodulin-binding transcription factor, and EDS1, an established regulator of salicylic acid level. Constitutive disease resistance and elevated levels of salicylic acid in loss-of-function alleles of Arabidopsis AtSR1 suggest that AtSR1 is a negative regulator of plant immunity. This was confirmed by epistasis analysis with mutants of compromised salicylic acid accumulation and disease resistance. We show that AtSR1 interacts with the promoter of EDS1 and represses its expression. Furthermore, Ca(2+)/calmodulin-binding to AtSR1 is required for suppression of plant defence, indicating a direct role for Ca(2+)/calmodulin in regulating the function of AtSR1. These results reveal a previously unknown regulatory mechanism linking Ca(2+) signalling to salicylic acid level.

Oomycetes form a deep lineage of eukaryotic organisms that includes a large number of plant pathogens which threaten natural and managed ecosystems. We undertook a survey to query the community for their ranking of plant-pathogenic oomycete species based on scientific and economic importance. In total, we received 263 votes from 62 scientists in 15 countries for a total of 33 species. The Top 10 species and their ranking are: (1) Phytophthora infestans; (2, tied) Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis; (2, tied) Phytophthora ramorum; (4) Phytophthora sojae; (5) Phytophthora capsici; (6) Plasmopara viticola; (7) Phytophthora cinnamomi; (8, tied) Phytophthora parasitica; (8, tied) Pythium ultimum; and (10) Albugo candida. This article provides an introduction to these 10 taxa and a snapshot of current research. We hope that the list will serve as a benchmark for future trends in oomycete research.

Abiotic and biotic stresses are major limiting factors of crop yields and cause billions of dollars of losses annually around the world. It is hoped that understanding at the molecular level how plants respond to adverse conditions and adapt to a changing environment will help in developing plants that can better cope with stresses. Acquisition of stress tolerance requires orchestration of a multitude of biochemical and physiological changes, and most of these depend on changes in gene expression. Research during the last two decades has established that different stresses cause signal-specific changes in cellular Ca 2+ level, which functions as a messenger in modulating diverse physiological processes that are important for stress adaptation. In recent years, many Ca 2+ and Ca 2+ /calmodulin (CaM) binding transcription factors (TFs) have been identified in plants. Functional analyses of some of these TFs indicate that they play key roles in stress signaling pathways. Here, we review recent progress in this area with emphasis on the roles of Ca 2+ -and Ca 2+ /CaMregulated transcription in stress responses. We will discuss emerging paradigms in the field, highlight the areas that need further investigation, and present some promising novel high-throughput tools to address Ca 2+ -regulated transcriptional networks.

SummaryPrecursor mRNAs with introns can undergo alternative splicing (AS) to produce structurally and functionally different proteins from the same gene. Here, we show that the pre-mRNAs of Arabidopsis genes that encode serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins, a conserved family of splicing regulators in eukaryotes, are extensively alternatively spliced. Remarkably about 95 transcripts are produced from only 15 genes, thereby increasing the complexity of the SR gene family transcriptome by six-fold. The AS of some SR genes is controlled in a developmental and tissue-specific manner. Interestingly, among the various hormones and abiotic stresses tested, temperature stress (cold and heat) dramatically altered the AS of pre-mRNAs of several SR genes, whereas hormones altered the splicing of only three SR genes. These results indicate that abiotic stresses regulate the AS of the pre-mRNAs of SR genes to produce different isoforms of SR proteins that are likely to have altered function(s) in pre-mRNA splicing. Sequence analysis of splice variants revealed that predicted proteins from a majority of these variants either lack one or more modular domains or contain truncated domains. Because of the modular nature of the various domains in SR proteins, the proteins produced from splice variants are likely to have distinct functions. Together our results indicate that Arabidopsis SR genes generate surprisingly large transcriptome complexity, which is altered by stresses and hormones.

Serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins play important roles in constitutive and alternative splicing and other aspects of mRNA metabolism. We have previously isolated a unique plant SR protein (SR45) with atypical domain organization. However, the biological and molecular functions of this novel SR protein are not known. Here, we report biological and molecular functions of this protein. Using an in vitro splicing complementation assay, we showed that SR45 functions as an essential splicing factor. Furthermore, the alternative splicing pattern of transcripts of several other SR genes was altered in a mutant, sr45-1, suggesting that the observed phenotypic abnormalities in sr45-1 are likely due to altered levels of SR protein isoforms, which in turn modulate splicing of other pre-mRNAs. sr45-1 exhibited developmental abnormalities, including delayed flowering, narrow leaves and altered number of petals and stamens. The late flowering phenotype was observed under both long days and short days and was rescued by vernalization. FLC, a key flowering repressor, is up-regulated in sr45-1 demonstrating that SR45 influences the autonomous flowering pathway. Changes in the alternative splicing of SR genes and the phenotypic defects in the mutant were rescued by SR45 cDNA, further confirming that the observed defects in the mutant are due to the lack of SR45. These results indicate that SR45 is a novel plant-specific splicing factor that plays a crucial role in regulating developmental processes.

Analysis of the recently completed

These authors have contributed equally to this work. SummarySerine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins in non-plant systems are known to play important roles in both constitutive and alternative splicing of pre-messenger RNAs (pre-mRNAs). Recently, we isolated a novel SR protein (SR45), which interacts with U1 snRNP 70K protein, a key protein involved in 5H splice site recognition. SR45 is found only in plants and is unique in having two SR domains separated by an RNA recognition motif (RRM). To study the localization and dynamics of SR45, we expressed it as a fusion to green¯uorescent protein (GFP) in cultured cells and transgenic Arabidopsis plants. The SR45 is localized exclusively to nuclei. In interphase nuclei, GFP±SR45 was found both in speckles and nucleoplasm. The speckles exhibited intranuclear movements and changes in morphology. Inhibition of transcription and protein phosphorylation resulted in redistribution of SR45 to bigger speckles. The change in the number and morphology of speckles caused by inhibition of transcription was blocked by an inhibitor of phosphatases. These results indicate that transcription activity of the cell and protein (de)phosphorylation regulate the intranuclear distribution of SR45.

Global analyses of splicing of precursor messenger RNAs (pre-mRNAs) have revealed that alternative splicing (AS) is highly pervasive in plants. Despite the widespread occurrence of AS in plants, the mechanisms that control splicing and the roles of splice variants generated from a gene are poorly understood. Studies on plant serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins, a family of highly conserved proteins, suggest their role in both constitutive splicing and AS of pre-mRNAs. SR proteins have a characteristic domain structure consisting of one or two RNA recognition motifs at the N-terminus and a C-terminal RS domain rich in arginine/serine dipeptides. Plants have many more SR proteins compared to animals including several plant-specific subfamilies. Pre-mRNAs of plant SR proteins are extensively alternatively spliced to increase the transcript complexity by about six-fold. Some of this AS is controlled in a tissue- and development-specific manner. Furthermore, AS of SR pre-mRNAs is altered by various stresses, raising the possibility of rapid reprogramming of the whole transcriptome by external signals through regulation of the splicing of these master regulators of splicing. Most SR splice variants contain a premature termination codon and are degraded by up-frameshift 3 (UPF3)-mediated nonsense-mediated decay (NMD), suggesting a link between NMD and regulation of expression of the functional transcripts of SR proteins. Limited functional studies with plant SRs suggest key roles in growth and development and plant responses to the environment. Here, we discuss the current status of research on plant SRs and some promising approaches to address many unanswered questions about plant SRs.