Cyclic nucleotide-gated channels (CNGCs) in the plasma membrane transport K+ and other cations; however, their roles in the response and adaptation of plants to environmental salinity are unclear. Growth, cation contents, salt tolerance and K+ fluxes were assessed in wild-type and two AtCNGC10 antisense lines (A2 and A3) of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. Compared with the wild-type, mature plants of both antisense lines had altered K+ and Na+ concentrations in shoots and were more sensitive to salt stress, as assessed by biomass and Chl fluorescence. The shoots of A2 and A3 plants contained higher Na+ concentrations and significantly higher Na+/K+ ratios compared with wild-type, whereas roots contained higher K+ concentrations and lower Na+/K+ ratios. Four-day-old seedlings of both antisense lines exposed to salt stress had smaller Na+/K+ ratios and longer roots than the wild-type. Under sudden salt treatment, the Na+ efflux was higher and the K+ efflux was smaller in the antisense lines, indicating that AtCNGC10 might function as a channel providing Na+ influx and K+ efflux at the root/soil interface. We conclude that the AtCNGC10 channel is involved in Na+ and K+ transport during cation uptake in roots and in long-distance transport, such as phloem loading and/or xylem retrieval. Mature A2 and A3 plants became more salt sensitive than wild-type plants because of impaired photosynthesis induced by a higher Na+ concentration in the leaves.
Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) is a key enzyme in mammalian polyamine biosynthesis that is up-regulated in various types of cancer. We previously showed that treating human neuroblastoma (NB) cells with the ODC inhibitor A-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) depleted polyamine pools and induced G 1 cell cycle arrest without causing apoptosis. However, the precise mechanism by which DFMO provokes these changes in NB cells remained unknown. Therefore, we further examined the effects of DFMO, alone and in combination with phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor LY294002 or Akt/protein kinase B (PKB) inhibitor IV, on the regulation of cell survival and cell cycle-associated pathways in LAN-1 NB cells. In the present study, we found that the inhibition of ODC by DFMO promotes cell survival by inducing the phosphorylation of Akt/PKB at residue Ser 473 and glycogen synthase kinase-3B at Ser 9 . Intriguingly, DFMO also induced the phosphorylation of p27Kip1 at residues Ser 10 (nuclear export) and Thr 198 (protein stabilization) but not Thr 187 (proteasomal degradation). The combined results from this study provide evidence for a direct cross-talk between ODC-dependent metabolic processes and well-established cell signaling pathways that are activated during NB tumorigenesis. The data suggest that inhibition of ODC by DFMO induces two opposing pathways in NB: one promoting cell survival by activating Akt/PKB via the PI3K/Akt pathway and one inducing p27 Kip1 /retinoblastomacoupled G 1 cell cycle arrest via a mechanism that regulates the phosphorylation and stabilization of p27 Kip1 . This study presents new information that may explain the moderate efficacy of DFMO monotherapy in clinical trials and reveals potential new targets for DFMO-based combination therapies for NB treatment. [Cancer Res 2008;68(23):9825-31]
Cyclic nucleotide gated channels (CNGCs) that are regulated by calmodulin (CaM) have been shown to play essential roles in signal transduction, metabolism, and growth in animals. By contrast, very little is known about the subcellular location and the function of these channels in plants. Here we report on the effects of antisense suppression of the expression of AtCNGC10, a putative K+ channel, and the immunolocalization of the protein using an AtCNGC10-specific antiserum. In Arabidopsis thaliana leaves, AtCNGC10 was localized to the plasma membrane of mesophyll and parenchyma cells. Antisense AtCNGC10 plants had 40% of the AtCNGC10 mRNA levels and virtually undetectable protein levels relative to wild type plants. Antisense expression of AtCNGC10 did not affect the mRNA levels of AtCNGC13, the most closely related CNGC family member in the genome. Relative to wild type Columbia, antisense AtCNGC10 plants flowered 10 days earlier, and had a 25% reduction in leaf surface area, thickness and palisade parenchyma cell length. Their roots responded more slowly to gravitropic changes and the chloroplasts accumulated more starch. We propose that AtCNGC10, through interactions with CaM and cGMP, modulates cellular K+ balance across the plasma membrane, and that perturbations of this K+ gradient affect numerous growth and developmental processes.
We have isolated and characterised AtCNGC10, one of the 20 members of the family of cyclic nucleotide (CN)-gated and calmodulin (CaM)-regulated channels (CNGCs) from Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. AtCNGC10 bound CaM in a C-terminal subregion that contains a basic amphiphillic structure characteristic of CaM-binding proteins and that also overlaps with the predicted CN-binding domain. AtCNGC10 is insensitive to the broad-range K+ channel blocker, tetraethylammonium, and lacks a typical K+-signature motif. However, AtCNGC10 complemented K+ channel uptake mutants of Escherichia coli (LB650), yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae CY162) and Arabidopsis (akt1-1). Sense 35S-AtCNGC10 transformed into the Arabidopsis akt1-1 mutant, grew 1.7-fold better on K+-limited medium relative to the vector control. Coexpression of CaM and AtCNGC10 in E. coli showed that Ca2+ / CaM inhibited cell growth by 40%, while cGMP reversed the inhibition by Ca2+ / CaM, in a AtCNGC10-dependent manner. AtCNGC10 did not confer tolerance to Cs+ in E. coli, however, it confers tolerance to toxic levels of Na+ and Cs+ in the yeast K+ uptake mutant grown on low K+ medium. Antisense AtCNGC10 plants had 50% less potassium than wild type Columbia. Taken together, the studies from three evolutionarily diverse species demonstrated a role for the CaM-binding channel, AtCNGC10, in mediating the uptake of K+ in plants.
Background: The cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channels (CNGCs) maintain cation homeostasis essential for a wide range of physiological processes in plant cells. However, the precise subcellular locations and trafficking of these membrane proteins are poorly understood. This is further complicated by a general deficiency of information about targeting pathways of membrane proteins in plants. To investigate CNGC trafficking and localization, we have measured Atcngc5 and Atcngc10 expression in roots and leaves, analyzed AtCNGC10-GFP fusions transiently expressed in protoplasts, and conducted immunofluorescence labeling of protoplasts and immunoelectron microscopic analysis of high pressure frozen leaves and roots.
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