The maintenance of stem cells in defined locations is crucial for all multicellular organisms. Although intrinsic factors and signals for stem cell fate have been identified in several species, it has remained unclear how these connect to the ability to reenter the cell cycle that is one of the defining properties of stem cells. We show that local reduction of expression of the RETINOBLASTOMA-RELATED (RBR) gene in Arabidopsis roots increases the amount of stem cells without affecting cell cycle duration in mitotically active cells. Conversely, induced RBR overexpression dissipates stem cells prior to arresting other mitotic cells. Overexpression of D cyclins, KIP-related proteins, and E2F factors also affects root stem cell pool size, and genetic interactions suggest that these factors function in a canonical RBR pathway to regulate somatic stem cells. Expression analysis and genetic interactions position RBR-mediated regulation of the stem cell state downstream of the patterning gene SCARECROW.

The introduction of the concept of systems biology, enabling the study of living systems from a holistic perspective based on the profiling of a multitude of biochemical components, opens up a unique and novel opportunity to reinvestigate natural products. In the study of their bioactivity, the necessary reductionistic approach on single active components has been successful in the discovery of new medicines, but at the same time the synergetic effects of components were lost. Systems biology, and especially metabolomics, is the ultimate phenotyping. It opens up the possibility of studying the effect of complex mixtures, such as those used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, in complex biological systems; abridging it with molecular pharmacology. This approach is considered to have the potential to revolutionize natural product research and to advance the development of scientific based herbal medicine.

Caspases play a very important role in initiating and executing apoptotic processes in animal cells. In this study we show that plant mitochondria were able to initiate the activation of caspase 3 in a Xenopus cell free system. Caspase 3-like activity was found to be present in plant cells and could only be inhibited by the specific caspase 3 inhibitor N-acetyl-Asp-GluVal-Asp-fluoromethylketone (Ac-DEVD-fmk) and not by cysteine protease inhibitors. By micro-injection of the caspase 3 substrate in living Chara cells we showed that caspase 3-like activity was mainly present in the cytosol rather than in the vacuole. This is the first time that in vivo caspase 3-like activity has been demonstrated in plants. ß

The fusicoccin binding protein (FCBP) is a highly conserved plasma membrane protein present in all higher plants tested thus far. It exhibits high- and low-affinity binding for the fungal toxin fusicoccin (FC). We purified the active FCBP from a fraction highly enriched in plasma membrane by selective precipitation and anion exchange chromatography. After SDS-PAGE, the two FCBP subunits of 30 and 31 kD were detected as major bands. Amino acid sequence analysis of the 31-kD polypeptide displayed a high degree of identity with so-called 14-3-3 proteins, a class of mammalian brain proteins initially described as regulators of neurotransmitter synthesis and protein kinase C inhibitors. Thereafter, we affinity purified the 30- and 31-kD FCBP subunits, using biotinylated FC in combination with a monomeric avidin column. Immunodecoration of these 30- and 31-kD FCBP subunits with polyclonal antibodies raised against a 14-3-3 homolog from yeast confirmed the identity of the FCBP as a 14-3-3 homolog. Similar to all 14-3-3 protein homologs, the FCBP seems to exist as a dimer in native form. Thus far, the FCBP is the only 14-3-3 homolog with a receptor-like function. The conserved structure of the 14-3-3 protein family is a further indication that the FCBP plays an important role in the physiology of higher plants.

SummaryThe plasma membrane H ϩ -ATPase in higher plants has been implicated in nutrient uptake, phloem loading, elongation growth and establishment of turgor. Although a C-terminal regulatory domain has been identified, little is known about the physiological factors involved in controlling the activity of the enzyme. To identify components which play a role in the regulation of the plant H ϩ -ATPase, a fusicoccin responsive yeast expressing Arabidopsis plasma membrane H ϩ -ATPase AHA2 was employed. By testing the fusicoccin binding activity of yeast membranes, the C-terminal regulatory domain of AHA2 was found to be part of a functional fusicoccin receptor, a component of which was the 14-3-3 protein. ATP hydrolytic activity of AHA2 expressed in yeast internal membranes was activated by all tested isoforms of the 14-3-3 protein of yeast and Arabidopsis, but only in the presence of fusicoccin, and activation was prevented by a phosphoserine peptide representing a known 14-3-3 protein binding motif in Raf-1. The results demonstrate that the 14-3-3 protein is an activator molecule of the H ϩ -ATPase and provides the first evidence of a protein involved in activation of plant plasma membrane H ϩ -ATPase.

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Natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) made mainly with abundant primary metabolites are being increasingly applied in green chemistry. The advantages of NADES as green solvents have led to their use in novel green products for the food, cosmetics and pharma markets. However, one of the main difficulties encountered in the development of novel products and their quality control arises from their low vapour pressure and high viscosity. These features create the need for the development of new analytical methods suited to this type of sample. In this study, such a method was developed and applied to analyse the efficiency of a diverse set of NADES for the extraction of compounds of interest from two model plants, Ginkgo biloba and Panax ginseng. The method uses high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) coupled with multivariate data analysis (MVDA). It was successfully applied to the comparative quali- and quantitative analysis of very chemically diverse metabolites (e.g., phenolics, terpenoids, phenolic acids and saponins) that are present in the extracts obtained from the plants using six different NADES. The composition of each NADES was a combination of two or three compounds mixed in defined molar ratios; malic acid-choline chloride (1:1), malic acid-glucose (1:1), choline chloride-glucose (5:2), malic acid-proline (1:1), glucose-fructose-sucrose (1:1:1) and glycerol-proline-sucrose (9:4:1). Of these mixtures, malic acid-choline chloride (1:1) and glycerol-proline-sucrose (1:1:1) for G. biloba leaves, and malic acid-choline chloride (1:1) and malic acid-glucose (1:1) for P. ginseng leaves and stems showed the highest yields of the target compounds. Interestingly, none of the NADES extracted ginkgolic acids as much as the conventional organic solvents. As these compounds are considered to be toxic, the fact that these NADES produce virtually ginkgolic acid-free extracts is extremely useful. The effect of adding different volumes of water to the most efficient NADES was also evaluated and the results revealed that there is a great influence exerted by the water content, with maximum yields of ginkgolides, phenolics and ginsenosides being obtained with approximately 20% water (w/w).