Very limited information is available on the role of phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI[3]P) in vesicle trafficking in plant cells. To investigate the role of PI(3)P during the vesicle trafficking in plant cells, we exploited the PI(3)P-specific binding property of the endosome binding domain (EBD) (amino acids 1257 to 1411) of human early endosome antigen 1, which is involved in endosome fusion. When expressed transiently in Arabidopsis protoplasts, a green fluorescent protein (GFP):EBD fusion protein exhibited PI(3)P-dependent localization to various compartments-such as the transGolgi network, the prevacuolar compartment, the tonoplasts, and the vesicles in the vacuolar lumen-that varied with time. The internalized GFP:EBD eventually disappeared from the lumen. Deletion experiments revealed that the PI(3)Pdependent localization required the Rab5 binding motif in addition to the zinc finger motif. Overexpression of GFP:EBD inhibited vacuolar trafficking of sporamin but not trafficking of H ؉ -ATPase to the plasma membrane. On the basis of these results, we propose that the trafficking of GFP:EBD reflects that of PI(3)P and that PI(3)P synthesized at the trans -Golgi network is transported to the vacuole through the prevacuolar compartment for degradation in plant cells. INTRODUCTIONEvidence suggests that phosphoinositides play a regulatory role in vesicle trafficking (Camilli et al., 1996; Corvera and Czech, 1998; Gary et al., 1998; Cremona et al., 1999;Leevers et al., 1999;Roth, 1999). Phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI[3]P) has been implicated in this process (Whitman et al., 1998; Corvera et al., 1999). Direct evidence for the role of PI(3)P in vesicle trafficking was obtained when the yeast VPS34 gene, one of the genes involved in the vesicular protein sorting in yeast, was found to encode a PI3-kinase (Schu et al., 1993). Almost all PI3-kinase activity in yeast can be attributed to Vps34p (Stack et al., 1995;Wurmser and Emr, 1998). However, Vps34p requires a protein kinase, Vps15p, for its activation and membrane association (Stack et al., 1995). Also, a mammalian protein, p110, which is homologous to yeast Vps34p, has PI3-kinase activity and can transduce signals from tyrosine-phosphorylated receptors into a variety of intracellular responses (Volinia et al., 1995). However, this mammalian PI3-kinase, in association with an adapter protein p85, is able to phosphorylate other PI compounds such as PI(4)P and PI(4,5)P 2 at the D3 position of PI (Volinia et al., 1995;Panaretou et al., 1997). It is now clear that PI3-kinases play critical roles in various trafficking events, such as endocytosis of transferrin (Li et al., 1995), endosome fusion (Jones et al., 1998), vacuolar trafficking in yeast (Peterson et al., 1999), vesicle formation at the transGolgi network (TGN) (Hickinson et al., 1997; Jones and Howell, 1997; Jones et al., 1998), vacuole morphogenesis in Schizosaccharomyces pombe (Takegawa et al., 1995), and multivesicular body formation (Fernandez-Borja et al., 1999).PI(3)P is likely to act in ...

GSK3/shaggy-like genes encode kinases that are involved in a variety of biological processes. By functional complementation of the yeast calcineurin mutant strain DHT22-1a with a NaCl stresssensitive phenotype, we isolated the Arabidopsis cDNA AtGSK1, which encodes a GSK3/shaggy-like protein kinase. AtGSK1 rescued the yeast calcineurin mutant cells from the effects of high NaCl. Also, the AtGSK1 gene turned on the transcription of the NaCl stress-inducible PMR2A gene in the calcineurin mutant cells under NaCl stress. To further define the role of AtGSK1 in the yeast cells we introduced a deletion mutation at the MCK1 gene, a yeast homolog of GSK3, and examined the phenotype of the mutant. The mck1 mutant exhibited a NaCl stress-sensitive phenotype that was rescued by AtGSK1. Also, constitutive expression of MCK1 complemented the NaCl-sensitive phenotype of the calcineurin mutants. Therefore, these results suggest that Mck1p is involved in the NaCl stress signaling in yeast and that AtGSK1 may functionally replace Mck1p in the NaCl stress response in the calcineurin mutant. To investigate the biological function of AtGSK1 in Arabidopsis we examined the expression of AtGSK1. Northern-blot analysis revealed that the expression is differentially regulated in various tissues with a high level expression in flower tissues. In addition, the AtGSK1 expression was induced by NaCl and exogenously applied ABA but not by KCl. Taken together, these results suggest that AtGSK1 is involved in the osmotic stress response in Arabidopsis.

Dynamin, a CTP-binding protein, is involved in endocytosis in animal cells. We found that a dynamin-like protein, ADLl, is present in multiple forms in Arabidopsis leaf tissue. Subcellular fractionation experiments, together with gel-filtration and nondenaturing-gel electrophoresis revealed that most of ADLl is present as a high-molecular-mass complex of 400 to 600 kD in the membrane or pellet fraction, whereas ADLl is present in the soluble fraction as a monomer. l h e subcellular distribution of ADLl is affected by various agents such as Ca2+, cyclosporin A, CTP, and ATP. Ca2+ increases the amount of ADLl present in the membrane fraction, whereas cyclosporin A inhibits the membrane association. Furthermore, CaZ+ and CTP change the migration pattern of ADLl in nondenaturing polyacrylamide gels, indicating that these chemicals influence either the complex formation and/or the conformation of the ADLl complex. Our results demonstrate that ADLl has characteristics that are similar to Dynamin I, which is found in animal cells. Therefore, it is possible that ADLl is also involved in biological processes that require vesicle formation.

Very limited information is available on the role of phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI[3]P) in vesicle trafficking in plant cells. To investigate the role of PI(3)P during the vesicle trafficking in plant cells, we exploited the PI(3)P-specific binding property of the endosome binding domain (EBD) (amino acids 1257 to 1411) of human early endosome antigen 1, which is involved in endosome fusion. When expressed transiently in Arabidopsis protoplasts, a green fluorescent protein (GFP):EBD fusion protein exhibited PI(3)P-dependent localization to various compartments-such as the trans-Golgi network, the prevacuolar compartment, the tonoplasts, and the vesicles in the vacuolar lumen-that varied with time. The internalized GFP:EBD eventually disappeared from the lumen. Deletion experiments revealed that the PI(3)P-dependent localization required the Rab5 binding motif in addition to the zinc finger motif. Overexpression of GFP:EBD inhibited vacuolar trafficking of sporamin but not trafficking of H-ATPase to the plasma membrane. On the basis of these results, we propose that the trafficking of GFP:EBD reflects that of PI(3)P and that PI(3)P synthesized at the trans-Golgi network is transported to the vacuole through the prevacuolar compartment for degradation in plant cells.

Dynamin, a GTP-binding protein found in rat brain, plays a role in endocytosis. Suborganellar fractionation studies of Arabidopsis leaf tissue revealed that a dynamin-like protein, ADL1, is localized in the thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts. This notion was supported further by in vivo targeting experiments using an ADL1-green fluorescent fusion protein and immunogold labeling with the anti-ADL1 antibody. Transgenic plants harboring various deletion mutant genes of ADL1 had a yellow leaf phenotype where the cells had very few chloroplasts. In addition, the remaining chloroplasts appeared morphologically not fully developed. The detailed structure of the chloroplasts revealed by electron microscopy showed a greatly reduced amount of thylakoid membranes. Also, the level of thylakoid membrane proteins such as the lightharvesting complex II and CP29 was greatly reduced in these transgenic plants. When we examined the expression of the ADL1 deletion mutant genes, these genes were highly expressed at the transcriptional level. However, the mutant ADL1s were not detectable at the protein level by Western blot analysis. Moreover, the endogenous ADL1 protein level was greatly reduced in these transgenic plants, probably due to a posttranscriptional silencing effect of the transgenes. We propose, therefore, that ADLl is involved in the biogenesis of thylakoid membranes.