In mammals, cadmium is widely considered as a non-genotoxic carcinogen acting through a methylation-dependent epigenetic mechanism. Here, the effects of Cd treatment on the DNA methylation patten are examined together with its effect on chromatin reconfiguration in Posidonia oceanica. DNA methylation level and pattern were analysed in actively growing organs, under short-(6 h) and long-(2 d or 4 d) term and low (10 mM) and high (50 mM) doses of Cd, through a Methylation-Sensitive Amplification Polymorphism technique and an immunocytological approach, respectively. The expression of one member of the CHROMOMETHYLASE (CMT) family, a DNA methyltransferase, was also assessed by qRT-PCR. Nuclear chromatin ultrastructure was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Cd treatment induced a DNA hypermethylation, as well as an up-regulation of CMT, indicating that de novo methylation did indeed occur. Moreover, a high dose of Cd led to a progressive heterochromatinization of interphase nuclei and apoptotic figures were also observed after long-term treatment. The data demonstrate that Cd perturbs the DNA methylation status through the involvement of a specific methyltransferase. Such changes are linked to nuclear chromatin reconfiguration likely to establish a new balance of expressed/repressed chromatin. Overall, the data show an epigenetic basis to the mechanism underlying Cd toxicity in plants.

In field conditions, plants may experience numerous environmental stresses at any one time. Research suggests that the plant response to multiple stresses is different from that for individual stresses, producing nonadditive effects. In particular, the molecular signaling pathways controlling biotic and abiotic stress responses may interact and antagonize one another. The transcriptome response of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) to concurrent water deficit (abiotic stress) and infection with the plant-parasitic nematode Heterodera schachtii (biotic stress) was analyzed by microarray. A unique program of gene expression was activated in response to a combination of water deficit and nematode stress, with 50 specifically multiple-stress-regulated genes. Candidate genes with potential roles in controlling the response to multiple stresses were selected and functionally characterized. RAPID ALKALINIZATION FACTOR-LIKE8 (AtRALFL8) was induced in roots by joint stresses but conferred susceptibility to drought stress and nematode infection when overexpressed. Constitutively expressing plants had stunted root systems and extended root hairs. Plants may produce signal peptides such as AtRALFL8 to induce cell wall remodeling in response to multiple stresses. The methionine homeostasis gene METHIONINE GAMMA LYASE (AtMGL) was up-regulated by dual stress in leaves, conferring resistance to nematodes when overexpressed. It may regulate methionine metabolism under conditions of multiple stresses. AZELAIC ACID INDUCED1 (AZI1), involved in defense priming in systemic plant immunity, was down-regulated in leaves by joint stress and conferred drought susceptibility when overexpressed, potentially as part of abscisic acid-induced repression of pathogen response genes. The results highlight the complex nature of multiple stress responses and confirm the importance of studying plant stress factors in combination.

Most RNA viruses infecting mammals and other vertebrates show profound suppression of CpG and UpA dinucleotide frequencies. To investigate this functionally, mutants of the picornavirus, echovirus 7 (E7), were constructed with altered CpG and UpA compositions in two 1.1–1.3 Kbase regions. Those with increased frequencies of CpG and UpA showed impaired replication kinetics and higher RNA/infectivity ratios compared with wild-type virus. Remarkably, mutants with CpGs and UpAs removed showed enhanced replication, larger plaques and rapidly outcompeted wild-type virus on co-infections. Luciferase-expressing E7 sub-genomic replicons with CpGs and UpAs removed from the reporter gene showed 100-fold greater luminescence. E7 and mutants were equivalently sensitive to exogenously added interferon-β, showed no evidence for differential recognition by ADAR1 or pattern recognition receptors RIG-I, MDA5 or PKR. However, kinase inhibitors roscovitine and C16 partially or entirely reversed the attenuated phenotype of high CpG and UpA mutants, potentially through inhibition of currently uncharacterized pattern recognition receptors that respond to RNA composition. Generating viruses with enhanced replication kinetics has applications in vaccine production and reporter gene construction. More fundamentally, the findings introduce a new evolutionary paradigm where dinucleotide composition of viral genomes is subjected to selection pressures independently of coding capacity and profoundly influences host–pathogen interactions.

Mutating RNA virus genomes to alter codon pair (CP) frequencies and reduce translation efficiency has been advocated as a method to generate safe, attenuated virus vaccines. However, selection for disfavoured CPs leads to unintended increases in CpG and UpA dinucleotide frequencies that also attenuate replication. We designed and phenotypically characterised mutants of the picornavirus, echovirus 7, in which these parameters were independently varied to determine which most influenced virus replication. CpG and UpA dinucleotide frequencies primarily influenced virus replication ability while no fitness differences were observed between mutants with different CP usage where dinucleotide frequencies were kept constant. Contrastingly, translation efficiency was unaffected by either CP usage or dinucleotide frequencies. This mechanistic insight is critical for future rational design of live virus vaccines and their safety evaluation; attenuation is mediated through enhanced innate immune responses to viruses with elevated CpG/UpA dinucleotide frequencies rather the viruses themselves being intrinsically defective.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.04531.001

Previously, we demonstrated that frequencies of CpG and UpA dinucleotides profoundly influence the replication ability of echovirus 7 (Tulloch et al., 2014). Here, we show that that influenza A virus (IAV) with maximised frequencies of these dinucleotides in segment 5 showed comparable attenuation in cell culture compared to unmodified virus and a permuted control (CDLR). Attenuation was also manifested in vivo, with 10-100 fold reduced viral loads in lungs of mice infected with 200PFU of CpG-high and UpA-high mutants. However, both induced powerful inflammatory cytokine and adaptive (T cell and neutralising antibody) responses disproportionate to their replication. CpG-high infected mice also showed markedly reduced clinical severity, minimal weight loss and reduced immmunopathology in lung, yet sterilising immunity to lethal dose WT challenge was achieved after low dose (20PFU) pre-immunisation with this mutant. Increasing CpG dinucleotide frequencies represents a generic and potentially highly effective method for generating safe, highly immunoreactive vaccines.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.12735.001

SummaryMany eukaryotic green algae possess biophysical carbon‐concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) that enhance photosynthetic efficiency and thus permit high growth rates at low CO 2 concentrations. They are thus an attractive option for improving productivity in higher plants. In this study, the intracellular locations of ten CCM components in the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were confirmed. When expressed in tobacco, all of these components except chloroplastic carbonic anhydrases CAH3 and CAH6 had the same intracellular locations as in Chlamydomonas. CAH6 could be directed to the chloroplast by fusion to an Arabidopsis chloroplast transit peptide. Similarly, the putative inorganic carbon (Ci) transporter LCI1 was directed to the chloroplast from its native location on the plasma membrane. CCP1 and CCP2 proteins, putative Ci transporters previously reported to be in the chloroplast envelope, localized to mitochondria in both Chlamydomonas and tobacco, suggesting that the algal CCM model requires expansion to include a role for mitochondria. For the Ci transporters LCIA and HLA3, membrane location and Ci transport capacity were confirmed by heterologous expression and H14 CO 3 ‐ uptake assays in Xenopus oocytes. Both were expressed in Arabidopsis resulting in growth comparable with that of wild‐type plants. We conclude that CCM components from Chlamydomonas can be expressed both transiently (in tobacco) and stably (in Arabidopsis) and retargeted to appropriate locations in higher plant cells. As expression of individual Ci transporters did not enhance Arabidopsis growth, stacking of further CCM components will probably be required to achieve a significant increase in photosynthetic efficiency in this species.

Summary Introducing components of algal carbon concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) into higher plant chloroplasts could increase photosynthetic productivity. A key component is the Rubisco‐containing pyrenoid that is needed to minimise CO 2 retro‐diffusion for CCM operating efficiency.Rubisco in Arabidopsis was re‐engineered to incorporate sequence elements that are thought to be essential for recruitment of Rubisco to the pyrenoid, namely the algal Rubisco small subunit (SSU, encoded by rbcS) or only the surface‐exposed algal SSU α‐helices.Leaves of Arabidopsis rbcs mutants expressing ‘pyrenoid‐competent’ chimeric Arabidopsis SSUs containing the SSU α‐helices from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii can form hybrid Rubisco complexes with catalytic properties similar to those of native Rubisco, suggesting that the α‐helices are catalytically neutral.The growth and photosynthetic performance of complemented Arabidopsis rbcs mutants producing near wild‐type levels of the hybrid Rubisco were similar to those of wild‐type controls. Arabidopsis rbcs mutants expressing a Chlamydomonas SSU differed from wild‐type plants with respect to Rubisco catalysis, photosynthesis and growth. This confirms a role for the SSU in influencing Rubisco catalytic properties.

Growth and productivity in important crop plants is limited by the inefficiencies of the C3 photosynthetic pathway. Introducing CO2-concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) into C3 plants could overcome these limitations and lead to increased yields. Many unicellular microautotrophs, such as cyanobacteria and green algae, possess highly efficient biophysical CCMs that increase CO2 concentrations around the primary carboxylase enzyme, Rubisco, to enhance CO2 assimilation rates. Algal and cyanobacterial CCMs utilize distinct molecular components, but share several functional commonalities. Here we outline the recent progress and current challenges of engineering biophysical CCMs into C3 plants. We review the predicted requirements for a functional biophysical CCM based on current knowledge of cyanobacterial and algal CCMs, the molecular engineering tools and research pipelines required to translate our theoretical knowledge into practice, and the current challenges to achieving these goals.