| 1. |
- Gray-Mitsumune, Madoka, et al.
(författare)
-
Ectopic expression of a wood-abundant expansin PttEXPA1 promotes cell expansion in primary and secondary tissues in aspen
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Plant Biotechnology Journal. - : Wiley. - 1467-7644 .- 1467-7652. ; 6:1, s. 62-72
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Expansins are primary agents inducing cell wall extension, and are therefore obvious targets in biotechnological applications aimed at the modification of cell size in plants. In trees, increased fibre length is a goal of both breeding and genetic engineering programmes. We used an alpha-expansin PttEXPA1 that is highly abundant in the wood-forming tissues of hybrid aspen (Populus tremula L. x P. tremuloides Michx.) to evaluate its role in fibre elongation and wood cell development. PttEXPA1 belongs to Subfamily A of alpha-expansins that have conserved motifs at the N- and C-termini of the mature protein. When PttEXPA1 was over-expressed in aspen, an extract of the cell wall-bound proteins of the transgenic plants exhibited an increased expansin activity on cellulose-xyloglucan composites in vitro, indicating that PttEXPA1 is an active expansin. The transgenic lines exhibited increased stem internode elongation and leaf expansion, and larger cell sizes in the leaf epidermis, indicating that PttEXPA1 protein is capable of increasing the growth of these organs by enhancing cell wall expansion in planta. Wood cell development was also modified in the transgenic lines, but the effects were different for vessel elements and fibres, the two main cell types of aspen wood. PttEXPA1 stimulated fibre, but not vessel element, diameter growth, and marginally increased vessel element length, but did not affect fibre length. The observed differences in responsiveness to expansin of these cell types are discussed in the light of differences in their growth strategies and cell wall composition.
|
|
| 2. |
- Gray-Mitsumune, Madoka, et al.
(författare)
-
Expansins abundant in secondary xylem belong to subgroup a of the alpha-expansin gene family (1 w )
- 2004
-
Ingår i: Plant Physiology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0032-0889 .- 1532-2548. ; 135:3, s. 1552-1564
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Differentiation of xylem cells in dicotyledonous plants involves expansion of the radial primary cell walls and intrusive tip growth of cambial derivative cells prior to the deposition of a thick secondary wall essential for xylem function. Expansins are cell wall-residing proteins that have an ability to plasticize the cellulose-hemicellulose network of primary walls. We found expansin activity in proteins extracted from the cambial region of mature stems in a model tree species hybrid aspen (Populus tremula X Populus tremuloides Michx). We identified three a-expansin genes (PttEXP1, PttEXP2, and PttEXP8) and one beta-expansin gene (PttEXPB1) in a cambial region expressed sequence tag library, among which PttEXP1 was most abundantly represented. Northern-blot analyses in aspen vegetative organs and tissues showed that PttEXP1 was specifically expressed in mature stems exhibiting secondary growth, where it was present in the cambium and in the radial expansion zone. By contrast, PttEXP2 was mostly expressed in developing leaves. In situ reverse transcription-PCR provided evidence for accumulation of mRNA of PttEXP1 along with ribosomal rRNA at the tips of intrusively growing xylem fibers, suggesting that PttEXP1 protein has a role in intrusive tip growth. An examination of tension wood and leaf cDNA libraries identified another expansin, PttEXP5, very similar to PttEXP1, as the major expansin in developing tension wood, while PttEXP3 was the major expansin expressed in developing leaves. Comparative analysis of expansins expressed in woody stems in aspen, Arabidopsis, and pine showed that the most abundantly expressed expansins share sequence similarities, belonging to the subfamily A of alpha-expansins and having two conserved motifs at the beginning and end of the mature protein, RIPVG and KNFRV, respectively. This conservation suggests that these genes may share a specialized, not yet identified function.
|
|
