Arabidopsis thaliana Atvsp is homologous to soybean VspA and VspB, genes encoding vegetative storage protein acid phosphatases, and is regulated similarly by methyl jasmonate, wounding, sugars, light and phosphate

Abstract

The soybean vegetative storage proteins, VSP alpha and VSP beta, are acid phosphatases that accumulate to very high levels in hypocotyls, young leaves and flowers and pods. The genes encoding the soybean VSP are activated by jasmonate, wounding, sugars and light and down regulated by phosphate and auxin. In this study, expression of an Arabidopsis thaliana gene (Atvsp) encoding a protein homologous to soybean Vsp alpha and Vsp beta, was examined and compared to expression of the soybean Vsp genes. Atvsp mRNA was present at high levels in flowers and buds and at low levels in roots, stems, leaves and siliques. Expression of Atvsp in leaves could be induced by wounding or by treatment of illuminated plants with methyl jasmonate and sucrose. Roots of plants with wounded leaves also accumulated Atvsp mRNA indicating that this gene can be regulated by a transmissible wound signal. Phosphate partially inhibited expression of Atvsp. Arabidopsis proteins of 29 and 30 kDa crossreacted with antibodies against soybean VSP. These proteins were very abundant in flowers and the proteins accumulated in leaves and roots of plants treated with methyl jasmonate. The level of these proteins in flowers was similar to the levels of soybean VSP in young soybean leaves. Overall, these data indicate that Arabidopsis Atvsp and soybean VspA/B genes are regulated similarly and that in both plants, the gene products can accumulate to high levels. This suggests that genes homologous to VspA/B may be of greater general significance than previously recognized.

Jasmonate Response Locus JAR1 and Several Related Arabidopsis Genes Encode Enzymes of the Firefly Luciferase Superfamily That Show Activity on Jasmonic, Salicylic, and Indole-3-Acetic Acids in an Assay for Adenylation

“…Mutations at three Arabidopsis loci ( JAR1 , COI1 , and JIN1 ) reduce sensitivity to JA, suggesting that they might affect jasmonate signal transduction (Staswick et al, 1992;Feys et al, 1994;Berger et al, 1995). Consistent with this idea, COI1 encodes an F-box protein that is related to TIR1, a component of a ubiquitin-like E3 complex that is involved in plant auxin response (Ruegger et al, 1998;Xie et al, 1998).…”

COI1-Dependent Expression of an Arabidopsis Vegetative Storage Protein in Flowers and Siliques and in Response to Coronatine or Methyl Jasmonate

“…The Arabidopsis VSP gene seems to be regulated in a similar way (Berger et al, 1995), which might suggest that cis-acting elements responsive to MeJA in the Arabidopsis VSP promoter cannot be activated in coil, perhaps because specific regulatory proteins are absent or inactive in this mutant.…”

“…Arabidopsis proteins of 29 and 30 kD that cross-reacted with antibodies against soybean VSP are abundant in flowers and accumulate in roots and leaves of plants treated with MeJA (Berger et al, 1995). Moreover, a mRNA encoding a protein homologous to the soybean VSPs was also found at high levels in flowers and buds and in leaves of illuminated Arabidopsis plants treated with MeJA and SUC (Berger et al, 1995). We also find that two proteins of approximately 29 and approximately 31 kD are induced by coronatine or MeJA in seedlings of wild-type Arabidopsis.…”

Mediator subunit MED25 links the jasmonate receptor to transcriptionally active chromatin

“…To determine the biological significance of the MED25-HAC1 interaction, we compared JA-responsive gene expression between the WT and the hac1-4 mutant (34). JA-Ile-induced expression of VEGETATIVE STORAGE PROTEIN 1 (VSP1), a marker gene for the JA-regulated wound response (35) (Fig. S1), exhibited a slight yet significant reduction in hac1-4 expression (Fig.…”