PDX proteins from Arabidopsis thaliana as novel substrates of cathepsin B: implications for vitamin B biosynthesis regulation.

Vitamin B is a critical molecule for metabolism, development, and stress sensitivity in plants. It is a cofactor for numerous biochemical reactions, can serve as an antioxidant, and has the potential to increase tolerance against both biotic and abiotic stressors. Due to the importance of vitamin B, its biosynthesis is likely tightly regulated.

Plants Gain Improved Salt-Stress Tolerance and Increased Storage Oil Biosynthesis by Interfering with CRL3 Activities.

Generating new strategies to improve plant performance and yield in crop plants becomes increasingly relevant with ongoing and predicted global climate changes. E3 ligases that function as key regulators within the ubiquitin proteasome pathway often are involved in abiotic stress responses, development, and metabolism in plants. The aim of this research was to transiently downregulate an E3 ligase that uses BTB/POZ-MATH proteins as substrate adaptors in a tissue-specific manner.

Using CRL3 E3 ligase substrate recognition sites as tools to impact plant development and stress tolerance in .

Cullin-based RING E3 ligases that use BTB/POZ-MATH (BPM) proteins as substrate receptors have been established over the last decade as critical regulators in plant development and abiotic stress tolerance. As such they affect general aspects of shoot and root development, flowering time, embryo development, and different abiotic stress responses, such as heat, drought and salt stress. To generate tools that can help to understand the role of CRL3 E3 ligases in plants, we developed a novel system using two conserved protein-binding motifs from BPM substrates to transiently block CRL3 activity.

Review: Exploring possible approaches using ubiquitylation and sumoylation pathways in modifying plant stress tolerance.

Ubiquitin and similar proteins, such as SUMO, are utilized by plants to modify target proteins to rapidly change their stability and activity in cells. This review will provide an overview of these crucial protein interactions with a focus on ubiquitylation and sumoylation in plants and how they contribute to stress tolerance. The work will also explore possibilities to use these highly conserved pathways for novel approaches to generate more robust crop plants better fit to cope with abiotic and biotic stress situations.

Plant E3 Ligases and Their Role in Abiotic Stress Response.

Plants, as sessile organisms, have limited means to cope with environmental changes. Consequently, they have developed complex regulatory systems to ameliorate abiotic stresses im-posed by environmental changes. One such system is the ubiquitin proteasome pathway, which utilizes E3 ligases to target proteins for proteolytic degradation via the 26S proteasome.