OsASR1 expression was induced through Abscisic acid (ABA) and stress treatments in leaves. The constitutive overexpression of OsASR1 in rice reduced ABA sensitivity, and increased high salinity and osmotic stress tolerance in early growth stages. These results indicated that OsASR1 has function in abiotic stress tolerance during early growth stages of rice.

LLA23, an abscisic acid-, stress-, and ripening-induced protein, was previously isolated from lily (Lilium longiflorum) pollen. The expression of LLA23 is induced under the application of abscisic acid (ABA), NaCl, or dehydration. To provide evidence on the biological role of LLA23 proteins against drought, we used an overexpression approach in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Constitutive overexpression of LLA23 under the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter confers reduced sensitivity to ABA in Arabidopsis seeds and, consequently, a reduced degree of seed dormancy. Transgenic 35SLLA23 seeds are able to germinate under unfavorable conditions, such as inhibitory concentrations of mannitol and NaCl. At the molecular level, altered expression of ABA/stress-regulated genes was observed. Thus, our results provide strong in vivo evidence that LLA23 mediates stress-responsive ABA signaling. In vegetative tissues, it is intriguing that Arabidopsis 35SLLA23 stomata remain opened upon drought, while transgenic plants have a decreased rate of water loss and exhibit enhanced drought and salt resistance. A dual function of the lily abscisic acid-, stress-, and ripening-induced protein molecule is discussed.

LP3 is a water-deficit-induced protein, which is highly homologous to ASR (ABA, stress and ripening) proteins. Homology was found in the C-terminal region of the putative LP3 protein while lower homologies were found in the N-terminal region. The goal of this study was to investigate the function of the LP3 protein and the mechanism of the lp3 promoter in response to water-deficit stress (WDS) and other stresses. In regenerated transgenic tobacco (T₀), expression of β-glucuronidase (GUS) from the lp3 promoter-GUS construct was observed in polyethylene glycol (PEG), abscisic acid (ABA), methyl-jasmonate (MeJa), and fluridone (Flu) treatments. GUS expression was not observed following gibberellin (GA₃), 2-methyl-4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D), silver nitrate, or ethephon (ethylene releasing agent) treatments. Germinated T₁ seedlings containing the lp3 promoter-GUS construct exhibited GUS activity up to 40 days postgermination. Expression could be restored when 5-azacytidine was included in the culture media, indicative of a developmentally regulated silencing mechanism involving methylation. In transgenic tobacco, the LP3 protein localized in the cell nucleus was induced by WDS and appeared to be developmentally regulated.

Salinity severely affects plant growth and development. Plants evolved various mechanisms to cope up stress both at molecular and cellular levels. Halophytes have developed better mechanism to alleviate the salt stress than glycophytes, and therefore, it is advantageous to study the role of different genes from halophytes. Salicornia brachiata is an extreme halophyte, which grows luxuriantly in the salty marshes in the coastal areas. Earlier, we have isolated SbASR-1 (abscisic acid stress ripening-1) gene from S. brachiata using cDNA subtractive hybridisation library. ASR-1 genes are abscisic acid (ABA) responsive, whose expression level increases under abiotic stresses, injury, during fruit ripening and in pollen grains. The SbASR-1 transcript showed up-regulation under salt stress conditions. The SbASR-1 protein contains 202 amino acids of 21.01-kDa molecular mass and has 79 amino acid long signatures of ABA/WDS gene family. It has a maximum identity (73 %) with Solanum chilense ASR-1 protein. The SbASR-1 has a large number of disorder-promoting amino acids, which make it an intrinsically disordered protein. The SbASR-1 gene was over-expressed under CaMV 35S promoter in tobacco plant to study its physiological functions under salt stress. T-0 transgenic tobacco seeds showed better germination and seedling growth as compared to wild type (Wt) in a salt stress condition. In the leaf tissues of transgenic lines, Na+ and proline contents were significantly lower, as compared to Wt plant, under salt treatment, suggesting that transgenic plants are better adapted to salt stress.

Six foxtail millet ASR genes were regulated by various stress-related signals. Overexpression of ASR1 increased drought and oxidative tolerance by controlling ROS homeostasis and regulating oxidation-related genes in tobacco plants. Abscisic acid stress ripening (ASR) proteins with ABA/WDS domains constituted a class of plant-specific transcription factors, playing important roles in plant development, growth and abiotic stress responses. However, only a few ASRs genes have been characterized in crop plants and none was reported so far in foxtail millet (Setaria italic), an important drought-tolerant crop and model bioenergy grain crop. In the present study, we identified six foxtail millet ASR genes. Gene structure, protein alignments and phylogenetic relationships were analyzed. Transcript expression patterns of ASR genes revealed that ASRs might play important roles in stress-related signaling and abiotic stress responses in diverse tissues in foxtail millet. Subcellular localization assays showed that SiASR1 localized in the nucleus. Overexpression of SiASR1 in tobacco remarkably increased tolerance to drought and oxidative stresses, as determined through developmental and physiological analyses of germination rate, root growth, survival rate, relative water content, ion leakage, chlorophyll content and antioxidant enzyme activities. Furthermore, expression of SiASR1 modulated the transcript levels of oxidation-related genes, including NtSOD, NtAPX, NtCAT, NtRbohA and NtRbohB, under drought and oxidative stress conditions. These results provide a foundation for evolutionary and functional characterization of the ASR gene family in foxtail millet.

Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) are a special type of glial cells that have characteristics of both astrocytes and Schwann cells. Evidence suggests that the regenerative capacity of OECs is induced by soluble, secreted factors that influence their microenvironment. These factors may regulate OECs self-renewal and/or induce their capacity to augment spinal cord regeneration. Profiling of plasma membrane and extracellular matrix through a high-throughput expression proteomics approach was undertaken to identify plasma membrane and extracellular matrix proteins of OECs under serum-free conditions. 1D-shotgun proteomics followed with gene ontology (GO) analysis was used to screen proteins from primary culture rat OECs. Four hundred and seventy nonredundant plasma membrane proteins and 168 extracellular matrix proteins were identified, the majority of which were never before reported to be produced by OECs. Furthermore, plasma membrane and extracellular proteins were classified based on their protein-protein interaction predicted by STRING quantitatively integrates interaction data. The proteomic profiling of the OECs plasma membrane proteins and their connection with the secretome in serum-free culture conditions provides new insights into the nature of their in vivo microenvironmental niche. Proteomic analysis for the discovery of clinical biomarkers of OECs mechanism warrants further study.

Plant expansins are capable of inducing pH-dependent cell wall extension and stress relaxation. They may be useful as targets for crop improvement to enhance fruit development and stress resistance. Tomato is a major agricultural crop and a model plant for studying fruit development. Because only some tomato expansins have been studied, a genome-wide analysis of the tomato expansin family is necessary. In this study, we identified 25 SlEXPAs, eight SlEXPBs, one SlEXLA, four SlEXLBs, and five short homologs in the tomato genome. 25 of these genes were identified as being expressed. Bioinformatic analysis showed that although tomato expansins share similarities with those from other plants, they also exhibit specific features regarding genetic structure and amino acid sequences, which indicates a unique evolutionary process. Segmental and tandem duplication events have played important roles in expanding the tomato expansin family. Additionally, the 3-exon/2-intron structure may form the basic organization of expansin genes. We identified new expansin genes preferentially expressed in fruits (SlEXPA8, SlEXPB8, and SlEXLB1), roots (SlEXPA9, SlEXLB2, and SlEXLB4), and floral organs. Among the analyzed genes those that were inducible by hormone or stress treatments, including SlEXPA3, SlEXPA7, SlEXPB1-B2, SlEXPB8, SlEXLB1-LB2, and SlEXLB4. Our findings may further clarify the biological activities of tomato expansins, especially those related to fruit development and stress resistance, and contribute to the genetic modification of tomato plants to improve crop quality and yield.

PlantCARE is a database of plant cis-acting regulatory elements, enhancers and repressors. Regulatory elements are represented by positional matrices, consensus sequences and individual sites on particular promoter sequences. Links to the EMBL, TRANSFAC and MEDLINE databases are provided when available. Data about the transcription sites are extracted mainly from the literature, supplemented with an increasing number of in silico predicted data. Apart from a general description for specific transcription factor sites, levels of confidence for the experimental evidence, functional information and the position on the promoter are given as well. New features have been implemented to search for plant cis-acting regulatory elements in a query sequence. Furthermore, links are now provided to a new clustering and motif search method to investigate clusters of co-expressed genes. New regulatory elements can be sent automatically and will be added to the database after curation. The PlantCARE relational database is available via the World Wide Web at http://sphinx.rug.ac.be:8080/PlantCARE/.

PIN家族基因是一类调控植物生长素极性运输的重要载体元件, PIN基因编码生长素输出蛋白, 介导生长素在植物体的运输, 然而在基因组较复杂的甘蓝型油菜中缺乏系统研究。本研究运用生物信息学方法在甘蓝型油菜全基因组数据库筛选甘蓝型油菜PIN家族基因, 对鉴定出的29个BnPINs基因开展拷贝数变异、分子特征、跨膜结构域、保守基序、染色体定位、系统进化树构建、PIN蛋白二级结构及三级结构预测等研究, 结合高通量转录组测序进行低氮胁迫下的转录水平分析。结果表明, 甘蓝型油菜PIN家族基因拷贝数明显多于拟南芥、甘蓝和白菜所具有的PIN家族基因数量; BnPINs蛋白多属于由碱性氨基酸组成的稳定蛋白, 含有保守的N末端结构域, 二级结构与拟南芥PIN蛋白相似; 系统进化选择能力分析表明, BnPINs基因与甘蓝和白菜PIN家族基因进化关系相近。转录组测序表明, BnPIN1s、BnPIN2s、BnPIN3s基因主要在甘蓝型油菜根部表达且受长期低氮(72 h)诱导, BnPIN6s和BnPIN8s基因主要在地上部表达, 低氮会抑制BnPIN6s表达。本研究结果为进一步研究甘蓝型油菜PIN家族基因生物学功能尤其是在响应低氮胁迫中的功能奠定基础, 为已知大量数据的其他物种家族基因生物信息学研究提供参考。