Arabidopsis thaliana PRL1is involved in low-calcium tolerance

Abstract

Calcium (Ca) deficiency symptoms in plants often occur in agriculture; however, little is known about the mechanisms for adaptation to low-Ca conditions. To understand the mechanisms, we screened for Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh mutants sensitive to low Ca. Here, we describe one of the mutants, lcs1-1, isolated from the screen. The relative shoot growth of the mutant was reduced under the low-Ca conditions compared with the wild-type plants. Genetic mapping and genome resequencing revealed that lcs1-1 has one nonsynonymous mutation in the region of the chromosome responsible for the phenotype. The mutation is in Pleiotropic Regulatory Locus 1 (PRL1). An allelism test between lcs1-1 and a T-DNA inserted allele of prl1 demonstrates that the causal gene of lcs1-1 is PRL1. It has been reported that PRL1 is involved in sugar metabolism; however, the involvement of PRL1 in low-Ca tolerance has not been reported. Our results suggest a new insight connecting sugar metabolism with a mechanism for low-Ca tolerance in plants.

Role of GSL8 in low calcium tolerance in <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>

“…We previously isolated and characterized several low Ca sensitive (lcs) mutants of A. thaliana (Li et al 2017;Shikanai et al 2015Shikanai et al , 2020. In the present study, we characterized the lcs6 mutant, which showed slower growth under both normal and low Ca conditions than wild-type Col-0 plants (Figure 1A).…”

“…Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 and gsl8-11(lcs6) seeds were obtained from our laboratory stocks. The lcs6 line was isolated as previously described (Shikanai et al 2015). For growth testing, surface sterilized seeds were sown on media containing nutrients (Yamagami medium; Shikanai et al 2015) with 1% (w/v) sucrose (84097-250G; Sigma-Aldrich Corp., St. Louis, MO, USA) and 1.5% (w/v) or 0.7% (w/v) purified agar (01056-15; Nacalai Tesque, Kyoto, Japan).…”

“…The lcs6 line was isolated as previously described (Shikanai et al 2015). For growth testing, surface sterilized seeds were sown on media containing nutrients (Yamagami medium; Shikanai et al 2015) with 1% (w/v) sucrose (84097-250G; Sigma-Aldrich Corp., St. Louis, MO, USA) and 1.5% (w/v) or 0.7% (w/v) purified agar (01056-15; Nacalai Tesque, Kyoto, Japan). The seeds were vernalized at 4°C for 2-7 days and the plates were then positioned vertically (1.5% agar) or horizontally (0.7% agar) in a growth chamber with a 16-h light/8-h dark photoperiod at 22°C.…”

“…Resemblance of the symptoms suggests that identification of genes involved in low-Ca tolerance in A. thaliana will help to understand the mechanisms of Ca deficiency symptoms in crops. To date, several low Ca tolerance genes have been identified through forward genetic analysis of A. thaliana mutants sensitive to low Ca conditions (Li et al 2017;Shikanai et al 2015Shikanai et al , 2020, including the callose (β-1,3 glucan) synthase gene GSL10 (Shikanai et al 2020). In our previous analysis of GSL10, we showed that callose synthesis is essential for low Ca tolerance.…”

Understanding calcium functionality by examining growth characteristics and structural aspects in calcium-deficient grapevine

“…Given the challenge of deriving functional insights from the model plant, Arabidopsis 17 , the logical course of action to account for such wide variations is to document Ca 2+ deficiency-related responses by sifting through symptoms of various tissues at cellular levels in each species and genotype 1 . Symptoms, the purest, truest, and the most tangible form of physiological response in advance to a harmful stimulus caused by abiotic and biotic factors mirror the abnormal function reflecting its role in the structural décor and metabolism.…”