• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.37-48
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• 2010

[ ${\Delta}^1$ ]pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (P5CS) is a proline biosynthetic pathway enzyme and is known for conferring enhanced salt and drought stress in transgenics carrying this gene in a variety of plant species; however, the wild-type P5CS is subjected to feedback control. Therefore, in the present study, we used a mutagenized version of this osmoregulatory gene-P5CSF129A, which is not subjected to feedback control, for producing transgenic indica rice plants of cultivar Karjat-3 via Agrobacterium tumefaciens. We have used two types of explants for this purpose, namely mature embryo-derived callus and shoot apices. Various parameters for transformation were optimized including antibiotic concentration for selection, duration of cocultivation, addition of phenolic compound, and bacterial culture density. The resultant primary transgenic plants showed more enhanced proline accumulation than their non-transformed counterparts. This proline level was particularly enhanced in the transgenic plants of next generation ($T_1$) under 150 mM NaCl stress. The higher proline level shown by transgenic plants was associated with better biomass production and growth performance under salt stress and lower extent of lipid peroxidation, indicating that overproduction of proline may have a role in counteracting the negative effect of salt stress and higher maintenance of cellular integrity and basic physiological processes under stress.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.244-251
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• 2011

Galactinol and rafinose accumulation in plants is associated with stressful environmental conditions such as cold, heat, or dehydration by the action of galactinols synthase (GolS) in the raffinose family of oligosaccharides biosynthetic pathway from UDP-galactose. Moreover, several reports mentioned that GolS transcription is up regulated by various environmental stresses like cold, heat, dehydration. Therefore, to determine whether MoGolS1 was induced with the abiotic stress we analyzed the expression pattern of the gene under various abiotic stresses like heat, cold, abscisic acid, sucrose and salt concentration in the lemon balm plants grown in standard MS medium. The MoGolS1 gene was 981-bp in length encoding 326 amino acids in its sequence and shared 77 and 76% sequence similarity with Arabidopsis thaliana galactinol synthase4 (AtGolS4) and AtGolS1 genes respectively. The MoGolS1 gene was strongly expressed by the abiotic stress induced by sucrose, ABA or heat shock. It was also expressed in responses to cold, Identification and Functional Characterization of the GALACTINOL SYNTHASgene induction with various stresses may be possible for itscrucial function in abiotic stress tolerance in plants, providing a good engineering target for genetic engineering.

• BMB Reports
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• v.50 no.11
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• pp.539-545
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• 2017

The Integrated Stress Response (ISR) refers to a signaling pathway initiated by stress-activated $eIF2{\alpha}$ kinases. Once activated, the pathway causes attenuation of global mRNA translation while also paradoxically inducing stress response gene expression. A detailed analysis of this pathway has helped us better understand how stressed cells coordinate gene expression at translational and transcriptional levels. The translational attenuation associated with this pathway has been largely attributed to the phosphorylation of the translational initiation factor $eIF2{\alpha}$. However, independent studies are now pointing to a second translational regulation step involving a downstream ISR target, 4E-BP, in the inhibition of eIF4E and specifically cap-dependent translation. The activation of 4E-BP is consistent with previous reports implicating the roles of 4E-BP resistant, Internal Ribosome Entry Site (IRES) dependent translation in ISR active cells. In this review, we provide an overview of the translation inhibition mechanisms engaged by the ISR and how they impact the translation of stress response genes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.181-189
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• 2018

Candida albicans is a major pathogenic fungus in humans, and meets at first the innate immune cells, such as macrophages, in its host. One important strategy of the host cell to kill C. albicans is to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) by the macrophages. In response to ROS produced by the macrophages, C. albicans operates its defense mechanisms against them by expressing its oxidative stress response genes. Although there have been many research studies explaining the specific transcription factors and the expression of the oxidative stress genes in C. albicans, the regulation of the oxidative stress genes by chromatin structure is little known. Epigenetic regulation by the chromatin structure is very important for the regulation of eukaryotic gene expression, including the chromatin structure dynamics by histone modifications. Among various histone modifications, histone acetylation is reported for its direct relationship to the regulation of gene expression. Recent studies reported that histone acetyltransferases regulate genes to respond to the oxidative stress in C. albicans. In this review, we introduce all histone acetyltransferases that C. albicans contains and some papers that explain how histone acetyltransferases participate in the oxidative stress response in C. albicans.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.438-445
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• 2008

Leaf senescence is a highly regulated genetic process that constitutes the last stage of plant development and provides adaptive fitness by relocating metabolites from senescing leaves to reproducing seeds. Characterization of various senescence mutants, mostly in Arabidopsis, and genome-wide analyses of gene expression, have identified a wide array of regulatory components, including transcription factors and enzymes as well as signaling molecules mediating growth hormones and environmental stress responses. In this work we demonstrate that a membrane-associated NAC transcription factor, NTL9, mediates osmotic stress signaling in leaf senescence. The NTL9 gene is induced by osmotic stress. Furthermore, activation of the dormant, membrane-associated NTL9 is elevated under the same conditions. A series of senescence-associated genes (SAGs) were upregulated in transgenic plants overexpressing an activated form of NTL9, and some of them were slightly but reproducibly downregulated in a T-DNA insertional NTL9 knockout mutant. These observations indicate that NTL9 mediates osmotic stress responses that affect leaf senescence, providing a genetic link between intrinsic genetic programs and external signals in the control of leaf senescence.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1393-1403
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• 2003

The genetic effects of restraint stress challenge on HPA axis and the therapeutic effect of Boshimgeonbi-Tang on the stress were studied with cDNA microarray analyses on hypothalamus using an immobilization-stress mouse as stress model. Male CD-1 mice were restrained in a tightly fitted and ventilated vinyl holder for 2hours once a day, and this challenge was repeated for seven consecutive days. The body weights of the immobilization-stress mice were diminished about 25 percent degree as compared to normal ones. Seven days later, total RNA was extracted from the organs of the mouse, body-labeled with CyDye/sup TM/ fluorescence dyes (Amersham Bioscience Co., NJ), and then hybridized to cDNA microarray chip. Scanning and analyzing the array slides were carried out using GenePix 4000 series scanner and GenePix Pro/sup TM/ analyzing program, respectively. The expression profiles of 109 genes out of 6000 genes on the chip were significantly modulated in hypothalamus by the immobilization stress. Energy metabolism-, lipid metabolism-, apoptosis- and signal transduction-related genes were transcriptionally activated whereas DNA repair-, protein biosynthesis-, and structure integrity-related genes were down-regulated in hypothalamus. The 58 genes were up-regulated by the mRNA expression folds of 1.5 to 7.9. and the 51 genes were down-regulated by 1.5 - 3.5 fold. The 20 genes among them were selected to confirm the expression profiles by RT-PCR. The mRNA expression levels of Tnfrsf1a (apoptosis), Calm2 (cell cycle), Bag3 (apoptosis), Hspe1 (protein folding), Aatk (apoptosis), Dffa (apoptosis), Itgb1 (cell adhesion), Vcam1 (cell adhesion), Fkbp5 (protein folding), BDNF (neuron survival) were restored to the normal one by the treatment of Boshimgeonbi-Tang.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2015

Glycine betaine (GB) is one of the compatible solutes that accumulate in the chloroplasts of certain halotolerant plants under salt or cold stress. The codA gene for choline oxidase, the enzyme that converts choline into GB, has been cloned from a soil bacterium Arthrobacter globiformis. We generated transgenic sweetpotato plants [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] expressing codA gene in chloroplasts under the control of the SWPA2 promoter (referred to as SC plants) and evaluated SC plants under oxidative and drought stresses. SC plants showed enhanced tolerance to methyl viologen (MV)-mediated oxidative stress and drought stress due to induced expression of codA. At $5{\mu}M$ of MV treatment, all SC plants showed enhanced tolerance to MV-mediated oxidative stress through maintaining low ion leakage and increased GB levels compared to wild type plants. When plants were subjected to drought conditions, SC plants showed enhanced tolerance to drought stress through maintaining high relative water contents and increased codA expression compared to wild type plants. These results suggest that the SC plants generated in this study will be useful for enhanced biomass production on global marginal lands.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.749-756
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• 2010

In many conditions, bacterial surface properties are changed as a result of variation in the growth medium and conditions. This study examined the influence of bile salt concentrations (0-0.1%) on colony morphotype, hydrophobicity, $H_2O_2$ concentration, S-layer protein production, and slpA gene expression in Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC 4356. It was observed that two types of colonies (R and S) were in the control group and the stress condition. When the bile level increased in the medium, the amount of S type was more than the R type. A stepwise increment in the bile concentration resulted in a stepwise decline in the maximum growth rate. The results showed that hydrophobicity was increased in 0.01%-0.02% bile, but it was decreased in 0.1% bile. Treatment by bile (0.01%-0.1%) profoundly decreased $H_2O_2$ formation. S-Layer protein and slpA gene expression were also altered by the stress condition. S-Protein expression was increased in the stress condition. The slpA gene expression increased in 0.01%-0.05% bile and it decreased in 0.1% bile. However, we found that different bile salt concentrations influenced the morphology and some surface properties of L. acidophilus ATCC 4356. These changes were very different in the 0.1% bile. It appears that the bacteria respond abruptly to 0.1% bile.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2005

Analysis of chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence implicated treatment of 40 mM NaCl decreased maximal photochemical efficiency of photosystem II (PSII) (Fv/Fm), actual quantum yield of PSII (${\Phi}_{PSII}$), and photochemical quenching (qP) in rice, but increased non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). Decreases in Fv/Fm, ${\Phi}_{PSII}$, and qP were significantly alleviated by $30\;{\mu}M$ jasmonic acid (JA), while NPQ increase was enhanced. Transcription levels of antioxidant isoenzyme genes were differentially modulated by NaCl treatment. Expression of cCuZn-SOD2 gene increased, while those of cAPXb, CATb, and CATc genes decreased. JA prevented salt-induced decrease of pCuZn-SOD gene expression, but caused greater decrease in mRNA levels of cAPXa and Chl_tAPX genes. Investigation of vacuolar $Na^+/H^+$ exchanger (NHX2) and 1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (P5CS) gene expressions revealed transcription level of NHX2 gene was increased by JA, regardless of NaCl presence, while that of P5CS gene slightly increased only in co-presence of JA and NaCl. Unlike JA, ${\gamma}$-radiation rarely affected expressions of antioxidant isoenzyme, NHX2, and P5CS genes, except for increase in mRNA level of Chl_tAPX and decrease in that of pCuZn-SOD. These results demonstrate enhanced salt-tolerance in JA-treated rice seedlings may be partly due to high transcription levels of pCuZn-SOD, NHX2, and P5CS genes under salt stress.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2018

This research was conducted to study the gene expression of coffee (Coffea arabica L.) seedlings under salt stress condition. A solution of five percent ($2.3dS\;m^{-1}$) deep sea water was used for the salt treatment, and it was thereby compared to normal irrigation water ($0.2dS\;m^{-1}$) used for the control treatment. The mRNA was extracted from the leaves of the coffee seedlings for a comprehensive analysis. In this study, a total of 19,581 genes were identified and aligned to the reference sequences available in the coffee genome database. The gene ontology analysis was performed to estimate the number of genes associated with the identified biological processes, cellular components and molecular functions. Among the 19,581 genes, 7369 (37.64%) were associated with biological processes, 5909 (30.18%) with cellular components, and 5325 (27.19%) with molecular functions. The remaining 978 (4.99%) genes were therefore grouped as unclassified. A differential gene expression analysis was performed using the DESeq2 package to identify the genes that were differentially expressed between the treatments based on fold changes and p-values. Namely, a total of 611 differentially expressed genes were identified (treatment/control) in that case. Among these, 336 genes were up-regulated while 275 of the genes were down-regulated. Of the differentially expressed genes, 60 genes showed statistically significant (p < 0.05) expression, 44 of which were up-regulated and 16 which were down-regulated. We also identified 11 differentially expressed transcription factor genes, 6 of which were up-regulated and rest 5 genes were down-regulated. The data generated from this study will help in the continued interest and understanding of the responses of coffee seedlings genes associated with salinity stress, in particular. This study will also provide important resources for further functional genomics studies.