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Expression of a proteinaceous elicitor harpin Pss, encoded by hrpZ of Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae 61, under GAL1 promoter in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Y187 resulted in galactose-inducible yeast cell death (YCD). Extracellular treatment of harpin did not affect the growth of yeast. The observed YCD was independent of the stage of cell cycle. ''Petite'' mutant of S. cerevisiae Y187 pYEUT-hrpZ was insensitive to cell death indicating the involvement of mitochondria in this YCD. Loss in mitochondrial potential, but no leakage of Cytochrome c from mitochondria into the cytosol, were notable features in harpin Pss -induced YCD. Cyclosporin A had no effect on hrpZ expressing yeast cells, further confirmed that there was no release of Cytochrome c. Elevation of caspase activity has been reported for the first time in this form of cell death induced by harpin expression. Release of reactive oxygen species and clear loss of membrane integrity were evident with the absence of nuclear fragmentation and chromosomal condensation, while annexin V and propidium iodide staining showed features typical of necrosis.

HrpZ—a harpin from Pseudomonas syringae—is a highly thermostable protein that exhibits multifunctional abilities e.g., it elicits hypersensitive response (HR), enhances plant growth, acts as a virulence factor, and forms pores in plant plasma membranes as well as artificial membranes. However, the molecular mechanism of its biological activity and high thermal stability remained poorly understood. HR inducing abilities of non-overlapping short deletion mutants of harpins put further constraints on the ability to establish structure-activity relationships. We characterized HrpZPss from Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae and its HR inducing C-terminal fragment with 214 amino acids (C-214-HrpZPss) using calorimetric, spectroscopic and microscopic approaches. Both C-214-HrpZPss and HrpZPss were found to form oligomers. We propose that leucine-zipper-like motifs may take part in the formation of oligomeric aggregates, and oligomerization could be related to HR elicitation. CD, DSC and fluorescence studies showed that the thermal unfolding of these proteins is complex and involves multiple steps. The comparable conformational stability at 25°C (∼10.0 kcal/mol) of HrpZPss and C-214-HrpZPss further suggest that their structures are flexible, and the flexibility allows them to adopt proper conformation for multifunctional abilities.

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