Overexpression and Inhibition of 3-Hydroxy-3-Methylglutaryl-CoA Synthase Affect Central Metabolic Pathways in Tobacco.

Little has been established on the relationship between the mevalonate (MVA) pathway and other metabolic pathways except for the sterol and glucosinolate biosynthesis pathways. In the MVA pathway, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase (HMGS) catalyzes the condensation of acetoacetyl-CoA and acetyl-CoA to form 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A. Our previous studies had shown that, while the recombinant Brassica juncea HMGS1 (BjHMGS1) mutant S359A displayed 10-fold higher enzyme activity than wild-type (wt) BjHMGS1, transgenic tobacco overexpressing S359A (OE-S359A) exhibited higher sterol content, growth rate and seed yield than OE-wtBjHMGS1.

Overexpression of HMG-CoA synthase promotes Arabidopsis root growth and adversely affects glucosinolate biosynthesis.

3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase (HMGS) catalyses the second step of the mevalonate (MVA) pathway. An HMGS inhibitor (F-244) has been reported to retard growth in wheat, tobacco, and Brassica juncea, but the mechanism remains unknown. Although the effects of HMGS on downstream isoprenoid metabolites have been extensively reported, not much is known on how it might affect non-isoprenoid metabolic pathways.

Sertoli cell–specific coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor regulates cell adhesion and gene transcription via β-catenin inactivation and Cdc42 activation.

Blood-testis barrier (BTB) and apical ectoplasmic specialization (ES) serve as structural supports for germ cell (GC) development. We demonstrated that the Sertoli cell (SC)-specific coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CXADR) knockout (SC-CXADR), but not the GC-specific knockout, impaired spermatogenesis. An increase in GC apoptosis and premature loss of elongated spermatids were observed in SC-CXADR testes.

SWATH-MS quantitative proteomic investigation of nitrogen starvation in Arabidopsis reveals new aspects of plant nitrogen stress responses.

Nitrogen is an essential macronutrient for plant growth and crop productivity. The aim of this work was to further investigate the molecular events during plant adaptation to nitrogen stress. Here, we present a SWATH-MS (Sequential window acquisition of all theoretical mass spectra)-based quantitative approach to detect proteome changes in Arabidopsis seedlings following nitrogen starvation.

The wheat Lr34 multipathogen resistance gene confers resistance to anthracnose and rust in sorghum.

The ability of the wheat Lr34 multipathogen resistance gene (Lr34res) to function across a wide taxonomic boundary was investigated in transgenic Sorghum bicolor. Increased resistance to sorghum rust and anthracnose disease symptoms following infection with the biotrophic pathogen Puccinia purpurea and the hemibiotroph Colletotrichum sublineolum, respectively, occurred in transgenic plants expressing the Lr34res ABC transporter. Transgenic sorghum lines that highly expressed the wheat Lr34res gene exhibited immunity to sorghum rust compared to the low-expressing single copy Lr34res genotype that conferred partial resistance.

SWATH-MS Quantitative Analysis of Proteins in the Rice Inferior and Superior Spikelets during Grain Filling.

Modern rice cultivars have large panicle but their yield potential is often not fully achieved due to poor grain-filling of late-flowering inferior spikelets (IS). Our earlier work suggested a broad transcriptional reprogramming during grain filling and showed a difference in gene expression between IS and earlier-flowering superior spikelets (SS). However, the links between the abundances of transcripts and their corresponding proteins are unclear.

SWATH-MS Quantitative Proteomic Investigation Reveals a Role of Jasmonic Acid during Lead Response in Arabidopsis.

Lead (Pb) pollution is a growing environment problem that continuously threatens the productivity of crops. To understand the molecular mechanisms of plant adaptation to Pb toxicity, we examined proteome changes in Arabidopsis seedlings following Pb treatment by SWATH-MS, a label-free quantitative proteomic platform. We identified and quantified the expression of 1719 proteins in water- and Pb-treated plants.

Cytochrome P450 93G1 Is a Flavone Synthase II That Channels Flavanones to the Biosynthesis of Tricin O-Linked Conjugates in Rice.

Flavones are a major class of flavonoids with a wide range of physiological functions in plants. They are constitutively accumulated as C-glycosides and O-linked conjugates in vegetative tissues of grasses. It has long been presumed that the two structural modifications of flavones occur through independent metabolic routes.

Phosphoproteomic analysis of the non-seed vascular plant model Selaginella moellendorffii.

Background: Selaginella (Selaginella moellendorffii) is a lycophyte which diverged from other vascular plants approximately 410 million years ago. As the first reported non-seed vascular plant genome, Selaginella genome data allow comparative analysis of genetic changes that may be associated with land plant evolution. Proteomics investigations on this lycophyte model have not been extensively reported.

Combinatorial use of offline SCX and online RP-RP liquid chromatography for iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomics applications.

Extensive front-end separation is usually required for complex samples in bottom-up proteomics to alleviate the problem of peptide undersampling. Isobaric Tags for Relative and Absolute Quantification (iTRAQ)-based experiments have particularly higher demands, in terms of the number of duty cycles and the sensitivity, to confidently quantify protein abundance. Strong cation exchange (SCX)/reverse phase (RP) liquid chromatography (LC) is currently used routinely to separate iTRAQ-labeled peptides because of its ability to simultaneously clean up the iTRAQ reagents and byproducts and provide first-dimension separation; nevertheless, the low resolution of SCX means that peptides can be redundantly sampled across fractions, leading to loss of usable duty cycles.