The Plastid-Localized AtFtsHi3 Pseudo-Protease of Has an Impact on Plant Growth and Drought Tolerance.

While drought severely affects plant growth and crop production, the molecular mechanisms of the drought response of plants remain unclear. In this study, we demonstrated for the first time the effect of the pseudo-protease AtFtsHi3 of on overall plant growth and in drought tolerance. An knock-down mutant [] displayed a pale-green phenotype with lower photosynthetic efficiency and Darwinian fitness compared to wild type (Wt).

Genome wide association study reveals plant loci controlling heritability of the rhizosphere microbiome.

Host genetics has recently been shown to be a driver of plant microbiome composition. However, identifying the underlying genetic loci controlling microbial selection remains challenging. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) represent a potentially powerful, unbiased method to identify microbes sensitive to the host genotype and to connect them with the genetic loci that influence their colonization.

Loss of Arabidopsis matrix metalloproteinase-5 affects root development and root bacterial communities during drought stress.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are zinc-dependent endo-peptidases that in mammals are known to be involved in remodeling the extracellular matrix (ECM) in developmental and pathological processes. In this study, we report At5-MMP of Arabidopsis thaliana to be important for root development and root bacterial communities. At5-MMP is mainly localized in the root vasculature and lateral root, an At5-MMP T-DNA insertion mutant (mmp5 KO) showed reduced root growth and a lower number of root apexes, causing reduced water uptake from the soil.

Four tyrosine residues of the rice immune receptor XA21 are not required for interaction with the co-receptor OsSERK2 or resistance to pv. .

Tyrosine phosphorylation has emerged as an important regulator of plasma membrane-localized immune receptors activity. Here, we investigate the role of tyrosine phosphorylation in the regulation of rice RESISTANCE 21 (XA21)-mediated immunity. We demonstrate that the juxtamembrane and kinase domain of -expressed XA21 (XA21JK) autophosphorylates on tyrosine residues.

Exploring the Root Microbiome: Extracting Bacterial Community Data from the Soil, Rhizosphere, and Root Endosphere.

The intimate interaction between plant host and associated microorganisms is crucial in determining plant fitness, and can foster improved tolerance to abiotic stresses and diseases. As the plant microbiome can be highly complex, low-cost, high-throughput methods such as amplicon-based sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene are often preferred for characterizing its microbial composition and diversity. However, the selection of appropriate methodology when conducting such experiments is critical for reducing biases that can make analysis and comparisons between samples and studies difficult.

Silencing of the Rice Gene LRR1 Compromises Rice Xa21 Transcript Accumulation and XA21-Mediated Immunity.

Background: The rice immune receptor XA21 confers resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), the causal agent of bacterial leaf blight. We previously demonstrated that an auxilin-like protein, XA21 BINDING PROTEIN 21 (XB21), positively regulates resistance to Xoo.

The Use of a Dexamethasone-inducible System to Synchronize Expression to Study Rice Immunity.

Inducible gene expression systems offer researchers the opportunity to synchronize target gene expression at particular developmental stages and in particular tissues. The glucocorticoid receptor (GR), a vertebrate steroid receptor, has been well adopted for this purpose in plants. To generate steroid-inducible plants, a construct of GAL4-binding domain-VP16 activation domain-GR fusion (GVG) with the target gene under the control of upstream activation sequence (UAS) has been developed and extensively used in plant research.

Protein phosphorylation in plant immunity: insights into the regulation of pattern recognition receptor-mediated signaling.

Plants are continuously challenged by pathogens including viruses, bacteria, and fungi. The plant immune system recognizes invading pathogens and responds by activating an immune response. These responses occur rapidly and often involve post-translational modifications (PTMs) within the proteome.

PYR/PYL/RCAR family members are major in-vivo ABI1 protein phosphatase 2C-interacting proteins in Arabidopsis.

Abscisic acid (ABA) mediates resistance to abiotic stress and controls developmental processes in plants. The group-A PP2Cs, of which ABI1 is the prototypical member, are protein phosphatases that play critical roles as negative regulators very early in ABA signal transduction. Because redundancy is thought to limit the genetic dissection of early ABA signalling, to identify redundant and early ABA signalling proteins, we pursued a proteomics approach.