Vitamin E is considered a major antioxidant in biomembranes, but little evidence exists for this function in plants under photooxidative stress. Leaf discs of two vitamin E mutants, a tocopherol cyclase mutant (vte1) and a homogentisate phytyl transferase mutant (vte2), were exposed to high light stress at low temperature, which resulted in bleaching and lipid photodestruction. However, this was not observed in whole plants exposed to long-term high light stress, unless the stress conditions were extreme (very low temperature and very high light), suggesting compensatory mechanisms for vitamin E deficiency under physiological conditions. We identified two such mechanisms: nonphotochemical energy dissipation (NPQ) in photosystem II (PSII) and synthesis of zeaxanthin. Inhibition of NPQ in the double mutant vte1 npq4 led to a marked photoinhibition of PSII, suggesting protection of PSII by tocopherols. vte1 plants accumulated more zeaxanthin in high light than the wild type, and inhibiting zeaxanthin synthesis in the vte1 npq1 double mutant resulted in PSII photoinhibition accompanied by extensive oxidation of lipids and pigments. The single mutants npq1, npq4, vte2, and vte1 showed little sensitivity to the stress treatments. We conclude that, in cooperation with the xanthophyll cycle, vitamin E fulfills at least two different functions in chloroplasts at the two major sites of singlet oxygen production: preserving PSII from photoinactivation and protecting membrane lipids from photooxidation.
Tocopherol (vitamin E) is a plant chloroplast lipid presumed to be involved in the response to oxidative stress. A tocopherol-deficient mutant (vte1) was isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana by using a TLC-based screening approach. Mutant plants lacked all four tocopherol forms and were deficient in tocopherol cyclase activity. Genetic mapping of vte1 and a genomics-based approach led to the identification of the ORF At4g32770 as a candidate gene for tocopherol cyclase. In vte1, At4g32770 contains a splicing site mutation and the corresponding mRNA expression is reduced. Expression of VTE1 in Escherichia coli resulted in the production of a protein with high tocopherol cyclase and tocotrienol cyclase activity. The VTE1 sequence shows no similarities to genes with known function, but is similar to that of SXD1, a gene that was recently isolated based on the availability of the sucrose export defective1 maize mutant (sxd1). Growth of the vte1 mutant, chlorophyll content, and photosynthetic quantum yield were similar to wild type under optimal growth conditions. Therefore, absence of tocopherol has no large impact on photosynthesis or plant viability, suggesting that other antioxidants can compensate for the loss of tocopherol. During photo-oxidative stress, chlorophyll content and photosynthetic quantum yield were slightly reduced in vte1 as compared with wild type indicating a potential role for tocopherol in maintaining an optimal photosynthesis rate under high-light stress.
Tocopherol belongs to the Vitamin E class of lipid soluble antioxidants that are essential for human nutrition. In plants, tocopherol is synthesized in plastids where it protects membranes from oxidative degradation by reactive oxygen species. Tocopherol cyclase (VTE1) catalyzes the penultimate step of tocopherol synthesis, and an Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutant deficient in VTE1 (vte1) is totally devoid of tocopherol. Overexpression of VTE1 resulted in an increase in total tocopherol of at least 7-fold in leaves, and a dramatic shift from a-tocopherol to g-tocopherol. Expression studies demonstrated that indeed VTE1 is a major limiting factor of tocopherol synthesis in leaves. Tocopherol deficiency in vte1 resulted in the increase in ascorbate and glutathione, whereas accumulation of tocopherol in VTE1 overexpressing plants led to a decrease in ascorbate and glutathione. Deficiency in one antioxidant in vte1, vtc1 (ascorbate deficient), or cad2 (glutathione deficient) led to increased oxidative stress and to the concomitant increase in alternative antioxidants. Double mutants of vte1 were generated with vtc1 and cad2. Whereas growth, chlorophyll content, and photosynthetic quantum yield were very similar to wild type in vte1, vtc1, cad2, or vte1vtc1, they were reduced in vte1cad2, indicating that the simultaneous loss of tocopherol and glutathione results in moderate oxidative stress that affects the stability and the efficiency of the photosynthetic apparatus.Vitamin E encompasses a class of lipid antioxidants consisting of four forms each of tocopherol and tocotrienol. Because of its high economical value and importance for human nutrition, much effort has been invested to elucidate the tocopherol biosynthetic pathway in plants and Cyanobacteria and to identify limiting steps by overexpression of candidate genes in transgenic plants. The hydroquinone ring of tocopherol is derived from the shikimate pathway of aromatic amino acid synthesis. Homogentisate, the precursor for the synthesis of tocopherol, tocotrienol, and plastoquinone, is synthesized by p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD; Fig. 1; Norris et al., 1998) (Collakova et al., 2003a). Final methylation by g-tocopherol methyltransferase (g-TMT, VTE4) results in the production of a-tocopherol. a-Tocopherol is the predominant form in leaves, whereas g-tocopherol is most abundant in seeds of Arabidopsis (Shintani and DellaPenna, 1998). Side reactions of VTE1, VTE3, and VTE4 result in the production of minor tocopherol forms in Arabidopsis seeds or leaves (d-tocopherol, b-tocopherol; Fig. 1).Under oxidative stress, the amounts of different antioxidants strongly increase in plants, and it is believed that this results in an increased capacity to scavenge reactive oxygen species (Noctor and Foyer, 1998;Collakova et al., 2003b). The accumulation of antioxidants under stress is at least in part mediated by induction of gene expression. For example, HPPD and HPT1, two steps of tocopherol synthesis, were shown to be induced under light stress (Coll...
Summary• Adventitious root formation (ARF) in the model plant Petunia hybrida cv. Mitchell has been analysed in terms of anatomy, gene expression, enzymatic activities and levels of metabolites. This study focuses on the involvement of wound response and primary metabolism.• Microscopic techniques were complemented with targeted transcript, enzyme and metabolite profiling using real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Northern blot, enzymatic assays, chromatography and mass spectrometry.• Three days after severance from the stock plants, first meristematic cells appeared which further developed into root primordia and finally adventitious roots. Excision of cuttings led to a fast and transient increase in the wound-hormone jasmonic acid, followed by the expression of jasmonate-regulated genes such as cell wall invertase. Analysis of soluble and insoluble carbohydrates showed a continuous accumulation during ARF. A broad metabolite profiling revealed a strong increase in organic acids and resynthesis of essential amino acids.• Substantial changes in enzyme activities and metabolite levels indicate that specific enzymes and metabolites might play a crucial role during ARF. Three metabolic phases could be defined: (i) sink establishment phase characterized by apoplastic unloading of sucrose and being probably mediated by jasmonates; (ii) recovery phase; and (iii) maintenance phase, in which a symplastic unloading occurs.
Plastoglobules, lipid-protein bodies in the stroma of plant chloroplasts, are enriched in non-polar lipids, in particular prenyl quinols. In the present study we show that, in addition to the thylakoids, plastoglobules also contain a considerable proportion of the plastidial PQ-9 (plastoquinol-9), the redox component of photosystem II, and of the cyclized product of PQ-9, PC-8 (plastochromanol-8), a tocochromanol with a structure similar to gamma-tocopherol and gamma-tocotrienol, but with a C-40 prenyl side chain. PC-8 formation was abolished in the Arabidopsis thaliana tocopherol cyclase mutant vte1, but accumulated in VTE1-overexpressing plants, in agreement with a role of tocopherol cyclase (VTE1) in PC-8 synthesis. VTE1 overexpression resulted in the proliferation of the number of plastoglobules which occurred in the form of clusters in the transgenic lines. Simultaneous overexpression of VTE1 and of the methyltransferase VTE4 resulted in the accumulation of a compound tentatively identified as 5-methyl-PC-8, the methylated form of PC-8. The results of the present study suggest that the existence of a plastoglobular pool of PQ-9, along with the partial conversion of PQ-9 into PC-8, might represent a mechanism for the regulation of the antioxidant content in thylakoids and of the PQ-9 pool that is available for photosynthesis.
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