• Molecules and Cells
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.109-117
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• 2014

Microbiota in the niches of the rhizosphere zones can affect plant growth and responses to environmental stress conditions via mutualistic interactions with host plants. Specifically, some beneficial bacteria, collectively referred to as Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPRs), increase plant biomass and innate immunity potential. Here, we report that Enterobacter sp. EJ01, a bacterium isolated from sea china pink (Dianthus japonicus thunb) in reclaimed land of Gyehwa-do in Korea, improved the vegetative growth and alleviated salt stress in tomato and Arabidopsis. EJ01 was capable of producing 1-aminocy-clopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase and also exhibited indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) production. The isolate EJ01 conferred increases in fresh weight, dry weight, and plant height of tomato and Arabidopsis under both normal and high salinity conditions. At the molecular level, short-term treatment with EJ01 increased the expression of salt stress responsive genes such as DREB2b, RD29A, RD29B, and RAB18 in Arabidopsis. The expression of proline biosynthetic genes (i.e. P5CS1 and P5CS2) and of genes related to priming processes (i.e. MPK3 and MPK6) were also up-regulated. In addition, reactive oxygen species scavenging activities were enhanced in tomatoes treated with EJ01 in stressed conditions. GFP-tagged EJ01 displayed colonization in the rhizosphere and endosphere in the roots of Arabidopsis. In conclusion, the newly isolated Enterobacter sp. EJ01 is a likely PGPR and alleviates salt stress in host plants through multiple mechanisms, including the rapid up-regulation of conserved plant salt stress responsive signaling pathways.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.170-182
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• 2011

Plants possess multiple resistance mechanisms that protect themselves against pathogen attack. To identify unknown components of the defense machinery in Arabidopsis, gene-expression changes were monitored in Arabidopsis thaliana under 18 different biotic or abiotic conditions using a DNA microarray representing approximately 25% of all Arabidopsis thaliana genes (www.genevestigator.com). Seventeen genes which are early responsive to salicylic acid (SA) treatment as well as pathogen infection were selected and their T-DNA insertion mutants were obtained from SALK institute. To elucidate the role of each gene in defense response, bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (Pst) DC3000 was inoculated onto individual T-DNA insertion mutants. Four mutants exhibited decreased resistance and five mutants displayed significantly enhanced resistance against Pst DC3000-infection as measured by change in symptom development as compared to wild-type plants. Among them, member of uridin diphosphate (UDP)-glycosyltransferase (UGT) was of particular interest, since a UGT mutant (At1g05680) showed enhanced resistance to Pst-infection in Arabidopsis. In systemic acquired resistance (SAR) assay, this mutant showed enhanced activation of SAR. Also, the enhanced SAR correlated with increased expression of defense-related gene, AtPR1. These results emphasize that the glycosylation of UGT74E2 is a part of the SA-mediated disease-resistance mechanism.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.923-932
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• 2018

Ethylene regulates numerous aspects of plant growth and development. Multiple external and internal factors coordinate ethylene production in plant tissues. Transcriptional and post-translational regulations of ACC synthases (ACSs), which are key enzymes mediating a rate-limiting step in ethylene biosynthesis have been well characterized. However, the regulation and physiological roles of ACC oxidases (ACOs) that catalyze the final step of ethylene biosynthesis are largely unknown in Arabidopsis. Here, we show that Arabidopsis ACO1 exhibits a tissue-specific expression pattern that is regulated by multiple signals, and plays roles in the lateral root development in Arabidopsis. Histochemical analysis of the ACO1 promoter indicated that ACO1 expression was largely modulated by light and plant hormones in a tissue-specific manner. We demonstrated that point mutations in two E-box motifs on the ACO1 promoter reduce the light-regulated expression patterns of ACO1. The aco1-1 mutant showed reduced ethylene production in root tips compared to wild-type. In addition, aco1-1 displayed altered lateral root formation. Our results suggest that Arabidopsis ACO1 integrates various signals into the ethylene biosynthesis that is required for ACO1's intrinsic roles in root physiology.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.686-696
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• 2011

To deal with pathogens, plants have evolved sophisticated mechanisms including constitutive and induced defense mechanisms. Phytohormones play important roles in plant growth and development, as well as in the systemic response induced by beneficial and pathogen microorganisms. In this work, we identified an Aspergillus ustus isolate that promotes growth and induces developmental changes in Solanum tuberosum and Arabidopsis thaliana. A. ustus inoculation on A. thaliana and S. tuberosum roots induced an increase in shoot and root growth, and lateral root and root hair numbers. Assays performed on Arabidopsis lines to measure reporter gene expression of auxin-induced/ repressed or cell cycle controlled genes (DR5 and CycB1, respectively) showed enhanced GUS activity, when compared with mock-inoculated seedlings. To determine the contribution of phytohormone signaling pathways in the effect elicited by A. ustus, we evaluated the response of a collection of hormone mutants of Arabidopsis defective in auxin, ethylene, cytokinin, or abscisic acid signaling to the inoculation with this fungus. All mutant lines inoculated with A. ustus showed increased biomass production, suggesting that these genes are not required to respond to this fungus. Moreover, we demonstrated that A. ustus synthesizes auxins and gibberellins in liquid cultures. In addition, A. ustus induced systemic resistance against the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea and the hemibiotrophic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae DC3000, probably through the induction of the expression of salicylic acid, jasmonic acid/ethylene, and camalexin defense-related genes in Arabidopsis.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.281-287
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• 2012

The model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana is the subject of an international genome research project. Massive doses of ionizing radiation have been shown to induce physiological changes in plants. The wild-type (Ler) Arabidopsis plants were irradiated with 100 Gy and 800 Gy of gamma-ray. Gibberellin (GA) affects developmental processes and responses according to the various environment conditions in diverse plant. The 13 GA isomers were analyzed at vegetative (VE) and reproductive (RE) stages by HPLC. Total GA contents were reduced with the increase in radiation doses at VE and RE stages. Specifically, levels of GA3, GA4, GA12, and GA34 were significantly reduced with the increase of radiation doses. Oligonucleotide microarrays analysis was performed with Arabidopsis plants at different developmental stages and doses of gamma-ray. Through the microarray data, we isolated 41 genes related to GA biosynthesis and signaling transduction. Expression of these genes was also decreased as the reduction of GA contents. Interestingly, in GA signaling related gene expression, gibberellin-responsive protein, putative (At2g18420) was down-regulated at VE and RE stages. Myb21 (At3g27810), Myb24 (At5g40350), and Myb57 (At3g01530) was down-regulated at RE stage. In GA biosynthesis related gene expression, YAP169 (At5g07200) and GA20ox2 (At5g51810) were down-regulated at 100 Gy treatment of VE stage and 800 Gy treatment of RE stage in cytoplasm, respectively. However, exceptively, GA3ox2 (At1g80340) was up-regulated at 100 Gy treatment of RE stage in cytoplasm. In this study, the wild type (Ler) Arabidopsis plants showed differences in response with development stage at the various doses of gamma-rays. GA contents change was reported in gamma irradiated plant.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.283-288
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• 2020

Although the evolution of Arabidopsis thaliana and humans diverged approximately 1.6 billion years ago, recent studies have demonstrated that protein function and cellular processes involved in disease response remain remarkably conserved. Particularly, γ-secretase, a multisubunit protein complex that participates in intramembrane proteolysis (RIP) regulation, is also known to mediate the cleavage of more than 80 substrates including the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and the Notch receptor. Although the genes (PS1/2, APH-1, PEN-2, and NCT) coding for the γ-secretase complex components are present in plant genomes, their function remains largely uncharacterized. Given that the deposition of 42 amino acid long amyloid-β peptides (hAβ₄₂) is thought to be one of the main causes of Alzheimer's disease, we aimed to examine the physiological effects of hAβ₄₂ peptides on plants. Interestingly, we found that Arabidopsis protoplast death increased after 24 h of exposure to 3 or 5 µM hAβ₄₂ peptides. Furthermore, transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing the hAβ₄₂ gene exhibited changes in primary root length and silique phyllotaxy. Taken together, our results demonstrate that hAβ₄₂ peptides, a metazoan protein, significantly affect Arabidopsis protoplast viability and plant morphology.

• Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1995.07a
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• pp.171-182
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• 1995

• Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.95-95
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• 2002

• Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1987.07a
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• pp.169-174
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• 1987

Arabidopsis thaliana has been used as a good model system for the molercular biological studies on plants for following reasons. It has small gonome size and short generation time, with easiness to obtain mutants and to be transformed. Prospect of its use in applied field is discussed briefly.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.259-262
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• 2013