The tobacco Ntann12 gene, encoding an annexin, is induced upon Rhodoccocus fascians infection and during leafy gall development

Abstract

SUMMARY Annexins are calcium‐binding proteins that have been associated in plants with different biological processes such as responses to abiotic stress and early nodulation stages. Until now, the implication of annexins during plant–pathogen interactions has not been reported. Here, a novel plant annexin gene induced in tobacco BY‐2 cell suspension cultures infected with the phytopathogenic bacterium Rhodococcus fascians (strain D188) has been identified. Expression of this gene, called Ntann12, is also induced, but to a lower extent, by a strain (D188‐5) that is unable to induce leafy gall formation. This gene was also induced in BY‐2 cells infected with Pseudomonas syringae but not in cells infected with Agrobacterium tumefaciens or Escherichia coli. Ntann12 expression was also found to be stimulated by abiotic stress, including NaCl and abscissic acid, confirming a putative role in stress signal transduction pathways. In addition, promoter‐GUS analyses using homozygous transgenic tobacco seedlings showed that the developmentally controlled expression of Ntann12 is altered upon R. fascians infection. Finally, up‐regulation of Ntann12 during leafy gall ontogenesis was confirmed by RT‐qPCR. Discussion is focused on the potential role of Ntann12 in biotic and abiotic stress responses and in plant development, both processes that may involve Ca2+‐dependent signalling.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Overexpression of a cotton annexin gene, GhAnn1, enhances drought and salt stress tolerance in transgenic cotton

“…Recently, genomic, proteomic, and transcriptomic approaches have provided data on the diversity, cellular localization, and expression patterns of different plant annexins . Annexin genes are present in the genomes of a wide range of plant species, including Arabidopsis (Huh et al 2010;Konopka-Postupolska et al 2009), rice (Shang et al 2007), wheat (Breton et al 2000), and tobacco (Vandeputte et al 2007). The majority of plant annexins are localized in the cytosol, but some are found to be peripheral or integral membrane proteins targeted to the plasma membrane, endomembrane, or the nuclear envelope (Battey and Blackbourn 1993;Clark et al 1994;de Carvalho-Niebel et al 2002;Thonat et al 1997).…”

Annexins: Components of the Calcium and Reactive Oxygen Signaling Network

“…The stress conditions that increase plant annexin abundance and recruitment to membranes (e.g. exogenous abscisic acid, drought, salinity, metal stress [Bianchi et al, 2002;Repetto et al, 2003;Lee et al, 2004;Vandeputte et al, 2007;Konopka-Postupolska et al, 2009]) can also result in ROS production (Demidchik et al, 2003;Boudsocq and Laurière, 2005;Konopka-Postupolska et al, 2009;Rodríguez-Serrano et al, 2009) and the lipid peroxidation that is typified by increases in MDA content (Demiral and Turkan, 2005;Collin et al, 2008). This suggests that annexins could function in integrating ROS and Ca 2+ in stress signaling.…”

Genomic organization, phylogenetic comparison and expression profiles of annexin gene family in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)

“…Some specific properties have also been observed in plant annexins, such as Ca 2 + -independent membrane binding activity at neutral pH (Dabitz et al, 2005), peroxidase activity (Gidrol et al, 1996), light and gravity response (Clark et al, 2000;Cantero et al, 2006), biotic (pathogens) and abiotic stress responses, etc. (Vandeputte et al, 2007;Huh et al, 2010).…”