Abscisic acid (ABA) is a phytohormone critical for plant growth, development, and adaptation to various stress conditions. Plants have to adjust ABA levels constantly to respond to changing physiological and environmental conditions. To date, the mechanisms for fine-tuning ABA levels remain elusive. Here we report that AtBG1, a beta-glucosidase, hydrolyzes glucose-conjugated, biologically inactive ABA to produce active ABA. Loss of AtBG1 causes defective stomatal movement, early germination, abiotic stress-sensitive phenotypes, and lower ABA levels, whereas plants with ectopic AtBG1 accumulate higher ABA levels and display enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress. Dehydration rapidly induces polymerization of AtBG1, resulting in a 4-fold increase in enzymatic activity. Furthermore, diurnal increases in ABA levels are attributable to polymerization-mediated AtBG1 activation. We propose that the activation of inactive ABA pools by polymerized AtBG1 is a mechanism by which plants rapidly adjust ABA levels and respond to changing environmental cues.

The present study investigated rice leaf proteome in response to heat stress. Rice seedlings were subjected to a temperature of 427C and samples were collected 12 and 24 h after treatment. Increased relative ion leakage and lipid peroxidation suggested that oxidative stress frequently was generated in rice leaves exposed to high temperature. 2-DE, coupled with MS, was used to investigate and identify heat-responsive proteins in rice leaves. In order to identify the low-abundant proteins in leaves, samples were prefractionated by 15% PEG. The PEG supernatant and the pellet fraction samples were separated by 2-DE, and visualized by silver or CBB staining. Approximately 1000 protein spots were reproducibly detected on each gel, wherein 73 protein spots were differentially expressed at least at one time point. Of these differentially expressed proteins, a total of 34 and 39 protein spots were found in the PEG supernatant and pellet fractions, respectively. Using MALDI-TOF MS, a total of 48 proteins were identified. These proteins were categorized into classes related to heat shock proteins, energy and metabolism, redox homeostasis, and regulatory proteins. The results of the present study show that a group of low molecular small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) were newly induced by heat stress. Among these sHSPs, a low molecular weight mitochondrial (Mt) sHSP was validated further by Western blot analysis. Furthermore, four differentially accumulated proteins that correspond to antioxidant enzymes were analyzed at the mRNA level, which confirmed the differential gene expression levels, and revealed that transcription levels were not completely concomitant with translation. The identification of some novel proteins in the heat stress response provides new insights that can lead to a better understanding of the molecular basis of heat-sensitivity in plants.

We isolated and examined two endophytic fungi for their potential to secrete phytohormones viz. gibberellins (GAs) and indoleacetic acid (IAA) and mitigate abiotic stresses like salinity and drought. The endophytic fungi Phoma glomerata LWL2 and Penicillium sp. LWL3 significantly promoted the shoot and allied growth attributes of GAs-deficient dwarf mutant Waito-C and Dongjin-beyo rice. Analysis of the pure cultures of these endophytic fungi showed biologically active GAs (GA1, GA3, GA4 and GA7) in various quantities. The cultures of P. glomerata and Penicillium sp. also contained IAA. The culture application and endophytic-association with host-cucumber plants significantly increased the plant biomass and related growth parameters under sodium chloride and polyethylene glycol induced salinity and drought stress as compared to control plants. The endophytic symbiosis resulted in significantly higher assimilation of essential nutrients like potassium, calcium and magnesium as compared to control plants during salinity stress. Endophytic-association reduced the sodium toxicity and promoted the host-benefit ratio in cucumber plants as compared to non-inoculated control plants. The symbiotic-association mitigated stress by compromising the activities of reduced glutathione, catalase, peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase. Under stress conditions, the endophyte-infection significantly modulated stress through down-regulated abscisic acid, altered jasmonic acid, and elevated salicylic acid contents as compared to control. In conclusion, the two endophytes significantly reprogrammed the growth of host plants during stress conditions.

Background: Endophytic fungi are known plant symbionts. They produce a variety of beneficial metabolites for plant growth and survival, as well as defend their hosts from attack of certain pathogens. Coastal dunes are nutrient deficient and offer harsh, saline environment for the existing flora and fauna. Endophytic fungi may play an important role in plant survival by enhancing nutrient uptake and producing growth-promoting metabolites such as gibberellins and auxins. We screened roots of Ixeris repenes (L.) A. Gray, a common dune plant, for the isolation of gibberellin secreting endophytic fungi.

Plant growth promoting endophytic bacteria have been identified as potential growth regulators of crops. Endophytic bacterium, Sphingomonas sp. LK11, was isolated from the leaves of Tephrosia apollinea. The pure culture of Sphingomonas sp. LK11 was subjected to advance chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques to extract and isolate gibberellins (GAs). Deuterated standards of [17, 17-(2)H2]-GA4, [17, 17-(2)H2]-GA9 and [17, 17-(2)H2]-GA20 were used to quantify the bacterial GAs. The analysis of the culture broth of Sphingomonas sp. LK11 revealed the existence of physiologically active gibberellins (GA4: 2.97 ± 0.11 ng/ml) and inactive GA9 (0.98 ± 0.15 ng/ml) and GA20 (2.41 ± 0.23). The endophyte also produced indole acetic acid (11.23 ± 0.93 μM/ml). Tomato plants inoculated with endophytic Sphingomonas sp. LK11 showed significantly increased growth attributes (shoot length, chlorophyll contents, shoot, and root dry weights) compared to the control. This indicated that such phyto-hormones-producing strains could help in increasing crop growth.