Publications by authors named "Albert Cairo"

Photosynthesis is among the first processes negatively affected by environmental cues and its performance directly determines plant cell fitness and ultimately crop yield. Primarily sites of photosynthesis, chloroplasts are unique sites also for the biosynthesis of precursors of the growth regulator auxin and for sensing environmental stress, but their role in intracellular auxin homeostasis, vital for plant growth and survival in changing environments, remains poorly understood. Here, we identified two ATP-binding cassette (ABC) subfamily B transporters, ABCB28 and ABCB29, which export auxin across the chloroplast envelope to the cytosol in a concerted action in vivo.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The evolutionarily conserved DNA repair complex Ku serves as the primary sensor of free DNA ends in eukaryotic cells. Its rapid association with DNA ends is crucial for several cellular processes, including non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) DNA repair and telomere protection. In this study, we conducted a transient kinetic analysis to investigate the impact of the SAP domain on individual phases of the Ku-DNA interaction.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Meiosis is a specialized cell division process that reduces chromosome number and is crucial for the formation of gametes in plants like Arabidopsis, where it transitions to gametophyte development through translation inhibition mechanisms involving TDM1 and SMG7.
  • Mutants lacking these mechanisms experience abnormal nuclear divisions due to the inability to downregulate cyclin-dependent kinases, resulting in the failure to form tetrads.
  • A suppressor screen identified mutation in CDKD;3, which alleviates these meiotic defects by preventing aberrant divisions and promoting the formation of functional microspores, indicating its complex role in cell cycle regulation beyond just activating CDKA;1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Meiosis marks the shift from diploid to haploid stages in the cell cycle and requires reprogramming of cell division processes before transitioning back to mitosis.
  • This study identifies that the transition during the second meiotic division is controlled by the inhibition of translation through the involvement of processing bodies (P-bodies) and the protein TDM1.
  • TDM1 interacts with SMG7 to form P-bodies that sequester the translation initiation complex eIF4F, thus inhibiting translation and allowing for the appropriate expression of genes necessary for gametophyte differentiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The synthesis of 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate (DXP), catalyzed by the enzyme DXP synthase (DXS), represents a key regulatory step of the 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway for isoprenoid biosynthesis. In plants DXS is encoded by small multigene families that can be classified into, at least, three specialized subfamilies. Arabidopsis thaliana contains three genes encoding proteins with similarity to DXS, including the well-known DXS1/CLA1 gene, which clusters within subfamily I.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Thiolases are ubiquitous enzymes involved in many essential biochemical processes. Biosynthetic thiolases, also known as acetoacetyl-CoA thiolases (AACT), catalyse a reversible Claisen-type condensation of two acetyl-CoA molecules to form acetoacetyl-CoA. Here, we report the characterisation of two genes from Arabidopsis thaliana L.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway synthesizes the precursors for an astonishing diversity of plastid isoprenoids, including the major photosynthetic pigments chlorophylls and carotenoids. Since the identification of the first two enzymes of the pathway, deoxyxylulose 5-phoshate (DXP) synthase (DXS) and DXP reductoisomerase (DXR), they both were proposed as potential control points. Increased DXS activity has been shown to up-regulate the production of plastid isoprenoids in all systems tested, but the relative contribution of DXR to the supply of isoprenoid precursors is less clear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF