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Molecular and Cellular Biology, July 2007, p. 5214-5224, Vol. 27, No. 14
0270-7306/07/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/MCB.01989-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907,1 Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California 92521,2 Division of Applied Life Science (BK21 Program) and Environmental Biotechnology National Core Research Center, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 660-701, South Korea,3 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602,4 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 794095
Received 23 October 2006/ Returned for modification 20 December 2006/ Accepted 4 April 2007
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It appears that several ion transporters act to facilitate Na+ entry into and exit out of plant cells. Na+ can also be compartmentalized in the vacuole through tonoplast-localized Na+/H+ antiporters (4). The uptake of Na+ into plant cells appears to occur at least partly through the transporter HKT1 (30, 40, 51) and through nonselective cation channels (2). In Arabidopsis thaliana, Na+ efflux is mediated by the plasma membrane Na+/H+ antiporter encoded by the SOS1 gene (47, 48, 52, 53) aided by plasma membrane H+-ATPases, which generate the proton gradient needed to drive Na+ transport. SOS1 facilitates Na+ efflux into the root medium, thereby delaying Na+ accumulation in the cytoplasm to allow time for Na+ sequestration in the vacuole. SOS1 appears also to control long-distance Na+ transport between roots and leaves by mediating loading and unloading of Na+ in the xylem and phloem. Overexpression of the SOS1 gene appears to confer increased salt tolerance, at least in part, in transgenic Arabidopsis plants by these processes (54).
Activation of the Na+/H+ antiport activity of SOS1 by salt stress is controlled by the SOS3 and SOS2 proteins (47, 48). SOS3 is a myristoylated calcium-binding protein that is capable of sensing cytosolic calcium changes elicited by salt stress (24, 34). SOS2 is a serine/threonine protein kinase with a unique regulatory domain at the carboxyl terminus and an amino-terminal catalytic domain (35). The carboxyl-terminal regulatory domain of SOS2 interacts with SOS3 through the FISL motif (19). In the presence of calcium, SOS3 activates the substrate phosphorylation activity of SOS2 (21). Recent data demonstrate that the SOS3-SOS2 protein kinase complex activates SOS1 via phosphorylation (47, 48).
Although failure to reestablish ion homeostasis is a major cause of salt-induced injury, the etiology of salt toxicity in plants is more complex (60) and includes oxidative damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) elicited by high levels of salt. ROS such as superoxide radicals (O2·), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and hydroxyl radicals (OH·) are produced in aerobic cellular processes such as mitochondrial and chloroplast electron transport or oxidation of several metabolites, such as glycolate (photorespiration), xanthine, and glucose. Abiotic stresses, including salinity, significantly increase the rate of ROS production (8, 17, 23, 56).
To minimize the damaging effects of ROS, organisms have evolved detoxification mechanisms. Plants utilize nonenzymatic antioxidants, such as ascorbate, glutathione, flavonoids, alkaloids, and carotenoids, to scavenge ROS (3). Detoxifying enzymes employed in plants include superoxide dismutase, catalase, and enzymes of the ascorbate-glutathione cycle (3, 12). The importance of oxidative protection in salt tolerance is indicated by the characterization of the Arabidopsis pst1 (for photoautotrophic salt tolerance 1) mutant, which is more tolerant to both salt and direct oxidative stresses than the wild type. The pst1 mutant also has significantly higher activities of superoxide dismutase and ascorbate peroxidase than wild-type Arabidopsis when treated with high levels of NaCl (57). Overexpression of genes involved in ROS scavenging, such as NtGST/GPX (glutathione S-transferase [GST]/glutathione peroxidase) also improve salt and chilling stress tolerance by reducing ROS-mediated membrane damage (49, 50).
Emerging evidence indicates that ROS also can act as an important signal controlling salt adaptive responses mediated through mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). An Arabidopsis MAPK kinase kinase, ANP1, is also activated by H2O2. After activation by ROS, ANP1 initiates a phosphorylation cascade involving two MAPKs, AtMAP4 and AtMAP6 (14, 58). Transgenic tobacco plants expressing a constitutively active ANP1 ortholog, NPK1, show improved tolerance to multiple environmental stress conditions including salinity. An Arabidopsis nucleoside diphosphate (NDPK2) may also positively regulate H2O2-mediated MAPK signaling in plants (42). So far, the SOS pathway, which controls ion homeostasis, has not been linked to ROS detoxification or ROS-mediated signaling initiated by salt stress.
Here, we describe a second site mutation, enh1-1 (enhancer 1-1), in the sos3-1 mutant background of Arabidopsis ecotype Columbia. The enh1-1 lesion causes salt sensitivity on its own and enhances the salt sensitivity of sos3-1. This indicates that ENH1 plays a role in salt tolerance in a pathway separate from SOS3. Further, genetic analysis revealed that the enh1-1 mutation did not enhance the salt sensitivity of sos2-1, indicating that SOS2 and ENH1 may function in the same pathway. ROS hyperaccumulate in enh1-1, sos3-1 enh1-1, sos2-1 enh1-1, and sos2-1 mutant plants but not in sos3-1 plants. The enh1 mutant thus reveals a new pathway involved in salt tolerance that appears to connect the ion homeostasis function of the SOS pathway via SOS2 with components of oxidative stress suppression signaling. The ENH1-mediated pathway may also be under the control of SOS1.
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Ion content measurements. One-week-old seedlings (n = 40 to 60) grown on germination medium were transferred to a 250-ml flask containing 60 ml half-strength MS salts and 2% sucrose (pH 5.7). The flasks were shaken at 100 rpm under cool fluorescent light (16-h light, 8-h dark) at 22 ± 1°C. After 1 week, NaCl was added to give the desired final NaCl concentrations, and the seedlings were allowed to grow for an additional 2 days. The seedlings were then harvested, rinsed with an excess amount of deionized H2O, dried in an oven at 65°C for 48 h, and weighed. Ground tissues were then extracted with 0.1 M nitric acid for 4 h and filtered through Whatman no. 1 filter paper. Na+ or K+ content was determined by use of an atomic absorption spectrometer (model SpectrAA-10; Varian, Springvale, Australia).
Cloning of the ENH1 gene. Genomic DNA flanking the left border of the inserted T-DNA in sos3-1 enh1-1 plants was isolated by thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR (TAIL-PCR) and subcloned into cloning vector pBluescript SK(+) as described elsewhere (61). The entire isolated fragment was sequenced. The primers used in the TAIL-PCR were as described previously (61). We also designed the following primer pair to examine whether the T-DNA insert is homozygous or heterozygous on chromosome 5 of plants that are homozygous for the sos3-1 enh1-1 mutant: forward, 5'-ACTCACACATTTTCGTCAATTGG-3'; reverse, 5'-GAAGTAGTGTGATGTGTGCGTTAG-3'. We have used the primers enh1-2LP, 5'-TTTTTAACTCTTGCTGCTGCAC-3', and enh1-2RP, 5'-TTTCCTTTGAATCCTGTGCAC-3', to identify the mutation in the enh1-2 (SALK_018190) allele.
RT-PCR and complementation of the sos3-1 enh1-1 mutant. Total RNA was extracted from different wild-type (Col-0) plant tissues with the RNeasy plant mini kit (QIAGEN, Valencia, CA), and 3 µg of total RNA was used for the first-strand cDNA synthesis with the thermoscript reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) system (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). Gene-specific primers for ENH1 were 5'-CAAAGCTTCTTCGTTCGATCACACTAG-3' and 5'-GGTTTGCAATTACAAAGCGGACTTG-3'. The RT-PCR product amplified from nontreated wild-type plant tissues was subcloned into the pGEM-T Easy vector (Promega, Madison, WI), resulting in the clone ENH1-4, and the identity of the insert was confirmed by sequencing.
The coding region of ENH1 was amplified by PCR using ENH1-4 as a template with the primers 5'-AGCTGAGCTCATGGCAACGTCTGGTGCG-3' and 5'-AGTCTCTAGATTATTGAAGACCATAGACAAGC-3'. The PCR fragment was cloned into the binary vector 99-1 (62) under the control of the CAM 35S promoter, and the identity of the cloned insert was confirmed by sequencing. The construct was introduced into sos3-1 enh1-1 mutant plants through Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated (strain GV3101) T-DNA transformation.
ENH1 promoter::GUS construct. A genomic fragment promoter including 2,014 bp 5' to the ATG start codon of the ENH1 gene was amplified by PCR with the wild-type genomic DNA with the primer pair 5'-AGTCGGATCCGTCTCCAAAACCACACCATTGTC-3' and 5'-AGTCCTGCAGCTTTCTTTCTAGTGTGATCGAACG-3'. The PCR fragment was cloned into the binary vector pCAMBIA1381Z between the BamHI and PstI sites, and the identity of the clone insert was confirmed by sequencing. The construct was introduced into Arabidopsis wild-type plants (ecotype Columbia) through an Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated (strain GV3101) T-DNA transformation. ß-Glucuronidase (GUS) staining was performed on tissues or organs from transgenic plants in 1 mM 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-ß-D-glucuronide (Rose Scientific Ltd., Cincinnati, OH) in 0.1 M potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.5) with 0.1% Triton X-100 (25). Chlorophyll was removed with 70% ethanol.
ENH1-GFP construct. The ENH1-coding region was amplified by PCR with the primers 5'-AGTCTCTAGAATGGCAACGTCTGGTGCG-3' and 5'-AGTCGAATCCGTTGAAGACCATAGACAAGC-3', with ENH1-4 used as a template. The PCR product was cloned into vector 326-SGFP between XbaI and BamHI sites, and the entire insert and the conjunction regions were sequenced. The resulting construct was then transformed into Arabidopsis protoplasts, and expression of the fusion constructs was monitored as described elsewhere (44).
GST-ENH1 recombinant protein construct. To produce Escherichia coli-expressed GST-ENH1 recombinant protein, the coding region of ENH1 was cloned in frame between the BamHI and XhoI sites of the expression vector pGEX-4T-1. The resulting construct was transformed into E. coli BL21(DE3) cells to obtain the GST-ENH1 fusion protein. Rubredoxin activity assays were performed as described previously (26).
ROS detection. One-week-old seedlings were used to determine the generation of ROS in the root as described elsewhere (55). For salt treatment, the seedlings were transferred to medium containing 100 mM NaCl and allowed to grow for 12 h. The untreated and treated seedlings were incubated with 50 µM 5- (and 6)-chloromethyl-2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate, acetyl ester (CM-H2DCFDA; Molecular Probes) for 30 min. All fluorescence images were obtained with a Leica SP2 confocal microscope (Mannheim, Germany).
Quantitative measurement of H2O2 production was performed with 1-week-old seedlings with an Amplex red hydrogen/peroxidase assay kit (Molecular Probes) as described elsewhere (9). For salt treatment, the seedlings were transferred to medium containing 100 mM NaCl and allowed to grow for an additional 12 h.
The detection of superoxide was performed essentially as described previously (31) with modifications. One-week-old seedlings germinated on germination medium were transferred to medium containing 0 mM or 80 mM NaCl. These seedlings were allowed to grow for one additional day and vacuum infiltrated with 0.1 mg/ml nitroblue tetrazolium (Sigma) in 25 mM HEPES buffer (pH 7.6). In a control treatment, 10 mM MnCl2 and 10 units/ml superoxide dismutase were added to the buffer. Samples were incubated at room temperature in darkness for 2 h. Chlorophyll was removed with 70% ethanol.
Quantification of chlorophyll. Frozen seedlings were ground and extracted with 80% (vol/vol) acetone. Chlorophyll was quantified photometrically as described elsewhere (32).
Northern hybridization. Two-week-old seedlings grown on germination medium (1x MS salts, 2% sucrose, 0.6% agar, pH 5.7) were untreated or treated with NaCl (200 mM; 12 h). Total RNA was extracted from whole seedlings with TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen) following the manufacturer's instructions. Total RNA was then separated on a formaldehyde-containing agarose (1.2% [wt/vol]) gel, transferred to a nylon transfer membrane (Schleicher & Schuell, Keene, NH) overnight and cross-linked. Blots were hybridized overnight (0.5 M phosphate buffer [pH 7.2], 7% [wt/vol] sodium dodecyl sulfate [SDS], 1 mM EDTA, 2 mM bovine serum albumin) with 32P-labeled probe at 60°C. Washes, 20 min each at 60°C, were performed first in 2x SSC (1x SSC is 0.15 M NaCl plus 0.015 M sodium citrate), 0.1% SDS, then in 1x SSC, 0.1% SDS, and finally in 0.5x SSC, 0.1% SDS. The 26S rRNA gene was used as a loading control.
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FIG. 1. The enh1-1 mutation confers hypersensitivity of sos3-1 to NaCl. (A) Root elongation of wild-type, sos3-1, and sos3-1 enh1-1 plants with or without 40 mM NaCl. (B) Growth of plants shown in panel A in different strengths of MS medium or full-strength MS medium without sucrose. (C) Dose response of plants shown in panel A to NaCl. The root growth was presented as a proportion of growth compared to growth without NaCl (100%). (D) The sos3-1 enh1-1 plants grown in soil are hypersensitive to salt treatment. Photographs were taken 18 days after the salt treatments. (E) Shoot fresh weight at the end of each treatment as shown in panel D. Shoot fresh weight data are shown as a percentage of shoot fresh weight in the absence of NaCl. Error bars in panels B, C, and E represent standard deviations (n = 18).
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The sos3-1 enh1-1 mutant plants also displayed significantly increased sensitivity to NaCl treatment in soil compared to sos3-1 (Fig. 1D). The double mutant gained much less fresh weight during 18 days of NaCl treatment compared to sos3-1 plants (Fig. 1E). The salt-hypersensitive phenotype of sos3-1 was not evident until more severe stress was applied (data not shown).
The enh1-1 mutation enhances the K+-deficient phenotype of the sos3-1 mutant. Seedlings of the sos3-1 mutant have impaired growth on medium containing low levels of K+ (33) and require 10 mM K+ for optimal root growth (Fig. 2A). Root elongation of sos3-1 enh1-1 mutant seedlings was substantially less than that of sos3-1 in medium with low K+. The enhancement of the K+ deficiency phenotype of sos3-1 by the enh1-1 mutation indicates that ENH1 is involved in controlling K+ nutrition separately from SOS3 (Fig. 2A) and appears to function in a separate signal pathway that mediates stress tolerance.
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FIG. 2. Responses of sos3-1 enh1-1 mutant plants to different levels of K+ or Ca2+. (A) Growth (over a period of 8 days) of sos3-1 enh1-1 in medium supplemented with different levels of KCl. (B) Response (over a period of 8 days) of the sos3-1 enh1-1 mutant to various levels of external Ca2+ in the presence of 50 mM NaCl. Error bars represent standard deviations (n = 18).
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The increased salt sensitivity of sos3-1 enh1-1 involves imbalanced ion homeostasis. Without stress, both sos3-1 enh1-1 and sos3-1 plants accumulated slightly higher levels of Na+ and K+ compared to wild-type plants (Fig. 3A and B). When treated with 100 mM NaCl, sos3-1 enh1-1 plants accumulated the highest amount of Na+ but the lowest K+ among the genotypes tested (Fig. 3A and B). Consequently, the ratio of K+ to Na+ in the sos3-1 enh1-1 mutant plants is the lowest, with or without NaCl stress (Fig. 3C and D). We isolated the enh1-1 single mutant from the F2 plants from a cross between the wild type and the sos3-1 enh1-1 double mutant. The levels of Na+ in enh1 single mutants under NaCl stress were elevated compared to wild-type plants, whereas enh1 mutants accumulated less K+ than the wild type (Fig. 3E and F). Under normal conditions, the levels of K+ and Na+ accumulation as well as the ratios of K+ to Na+ in the enh1 mutants are essentially the same as wild type. However, when treated with NaCl, the ratios of K+ to Na+ in the enh1 mutants are significantly lower than wild type (Fig. 3H).
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FIG. 3. Ion content in sos3-1 enh1-1 mutant plants. (A) Na+ content in sos3-1 enh1-1 seedlings with or without NaCl in the medium. The mean values between genotypes are statistically significantly different (P < 0.05, paired t test) under 100 mM NaCl. (B) K+ content in sos3-1 enh1-1 seedlings with or without NaCl in the medium. The mean values between genotypes are statistically significantly different (P < 0.05, paired t test) under 100 mM NaCl. (C) Ratio of K+ and Na+ accumulation in the sos3-1 enh1-1 seedlings without NaCl. The mean values between genotypes are statistically significantly different (P < 0.05, paired t test). (D) Ratio of K+ and Na+ accumulation in sos3-1 enh1-1 seedlings treated with NaCl. The mean values between genotypes are statistically significantly different (P < 0.05, paired t test). (E) Na+ content in enh1 mutant seedlings with or without NaCl in the medium. The mean values between genotypes are statistically significantly different (P < 0.05, paired t test) under 100 mM NaCl. (F) K+ content in enh1 mutant seedlings with or without NaCl in the medium. The mean values between genotypes are statistically significantly different (P < 0.05, paired t test) under 100 mM NaCl. (G) Ratio of K+ and Na+ accumulation in enh1 mutant seedlings without NaCl. The mean values between genotypes are not statistically significantly different (P > 0.05, paired t test). (H) Ratio of K+ and Na+ accumulation in enh1 mutant seedlings treated with 100 mM NaCl. The mean values between genotypes are statistically significantly different (P < 0.05, paired t test). Error bars are standard deviations (n = 7). DW, dry weight.
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FIG. 4. Complementation of sos3-1 enh1-1 mutant by constitutive expression of ENH1 and enh1 single mutants are more sensitive to NaCl than wild type. (A) Constitutive expression of ENH1 complemented sos3-1 enh1-1 mutant. (B) enh1-1 and enh1-2 plants are more sensitive to NaCl than wild type. (C) Quantification of root growth data of genotypes shown in (A). Each bar represents root growth of one individual line. (D) Growth of Col-0, wild type, sos3-1, enh1-1 and enh1-2 in media containing various levels of NaCl. (E) Response of sos2-1 enh1-1 mutant plants to different concentrations of NaCl. Error bars are standard deviation (n = 18).
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FIG. 5. ENH1 encodes a PDZ and rubredoxin domain-containing protein. (A) Structure of the ENH1 gene. Positions are relative to the translation start codon. Filled boxes represent the exons, and lines between filled boxes represent introns. (B) Alignment of ENH1 and other proteins in the rubredoxin domain. Proteins compared are ENH1 (accession number AAK59624) from Arabidopsis thaliana; rubredoxin (AAF03228), rubredoxin from Pyrococcus furiosus; and Rd1 (P58992), rubredoxin from Chlorobaculum tepidum. (C) Comparison of ENH1 with its homolog in the PDZ domain. Human (NP_057424), PDZ domain-containing guanine nucleotide exchange factor I human (Homo sapiens). (D) Subcellular localization of ENH1 protein. (E) The ENH1 gene is constitutively expressed. Control, no treatment; cold, 0°C for 24 h; ABA, 100 µM for 3 h; NaCl, 300 mM for 5 h. (F) Transcript abundance of ENH1 in different plant tissues. (G) ENH1 expression in different genotypes by Northern analysis (left panel) and RT-PCR analysis (right panel). (H) ENH1 promoter::GUS expression in transgenic Arabidopsis plants.
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Expression of ENH1 and localization of ENH1-GFP. ENH1 is constitutively expressed in wild-type plants, and its expression is abolished in sos3-1 enh1-1, enh1-1, and enh1-2 mutant plants (Fig. 5E and G). The transcript of ENH1 is more abundant in the shoot than root (Fig. 5F). Interestingly, we observed that ENH1 expression was also reduced in the sos1-1 mutant under salt stress (Fig. 5G), indicating that SOS1 is a positive regulator of ENH1 transcript accumulation. We also produced Arabidopsis transgenic plants expressing an ENH1 promoter-GUS fusion gene. The expression of ENH1::GUS was observed in all tissues of seedlings, with weaker expression in the root tips (Fig. 5H). Strong GUS expression was also detected in the anther (Fig. 5H). The subcellular localization of ENH1 was determined by a transient expression assay of the ENH1-GFP fusion protein, which revealed that ENH1 accumulates in the chloroplast (Fig. 5D).
enh1 single mutations also confer reduced tolerance to salt. The enh1-1 single mutant seedlings are more sensitive to NaCl than the wild type (Fig. 4B and D). This result indicates that ENH1 is required for normal salt tolerance. A T-DNA insertion line (SALK_018190, referred to as enh1-2 hereafter), which has a T-DNA insertion in the At5g17170 gene (Fig. 5A), is more sensitive to NaCl than its wild-type background (Col-0) (Fig. 4B and D). Consistent with their allelic nature, F1 plants (18 of 18) from a cross between enh1-1 and enh1-2 showed a level of sensitivity to 100 mM NaCl that was similar to the parental plants. Both enh1-1 and enh1-2 seedlings grew nearly normally compared to their wild types in control medium without stress (Fig. 4B).
ENH1 and SOS2 are involved in the control of ROS detoxification. Rubredoxins are known to act as electron carriers for various enzymes. Reports have described the involvement of rubredoxins in oxidative stress protection in Desulfovibrio gigas, Desulfovibrio vulgaris, and Treponema pallidum (5, 11, 13). ENH1 encodes a chloroplast protein with a putative rubredoxin domain that may also function as an electron carrier. We assayed ENH1 recombinant protein for possible rubredoxin activity and found that it does not appear to act as an electron donor or acceptor in a superoxide reductase reaction system from Pyrococcus furiosus (26) (data not shown).
Nevertheless, an analysis of the ROS levels in sos3-1 enh1-1 and enh1-1 plants revealed that the mutants accumulate higher amounts of ROS as detected by CM-H2DCFDA staining followed by confocal imaging (Fig. 6A). Stress treatment with 100 mM NaCl for 12 h stimulated the accumulation of ROS in wild type, sos3-1, sos3-1 enh1-1, and enh1-1 plants. However, sos3-1 enh1-1 and enh1-1 plants accumulated ROS to much higher levels (Fig. 6A). Staining with nitroblue tetrazolium specifically detects superoxide radicals. As shown in Fig. 6B, under normal growth conditions, sos3-1 enh1-1 and enh1-1 plants have slightly more superoxide accumulation than sos3-1 or wild-type plants. However, after treatment with 80 mM NaCl for 1 day, sos3-1 enh1-1 and enh1-1 plants accumulated much more superoxide than sos3-1 plants or wild-type plants, indicating that hyperaccumulation of superoxide resulting from the enh1-1 mutation is independent of sos3-1 (Fig. 6B). Without stress, enh1 plants displayed a low level of H2O2 similar to that in the wild type (Fig. 6C). When treated with 100 mM NaCl for 12 h, sos3-1 enh1-1 and enh1-1 plants all accumulated substantially higher levels of H2O2 than sos3-1 or wild-type plants (Fig. 6C). Interestingly sos2-1 mutant plants also accumulated more ROS than wild-type or sos3-1 plants with or without NaCl stress (Fig. 6). However, the enh1-1 mutation has no additive effect with the sos2-1 mutation (Fig. 6), which indicates that genetically, ENH1 and SOS2 may function in a common pathway controlling ROS detoxification in response to NaCl stress.
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FIG. 6. Detection of ROS. (A) ROS levels in roots in different mutants after CM-H2DCFDA staining. (B) Nitroblue tetrazolium staining for superoxide in unstressed or salt-treated (80 mM NaCl) seedlings. (C) H2O2 production under salt treatment. Error bars represent standard deviations (n = 6). FW, fresh weight.
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FIG. 7. enh1 mutations cause hypersensitivity to oxidative stress. (A)Three-week-old seedlings grown in germination medium were treated with 0.5 or 1.0 µM methyl viologen under light for 4 days. Damaged seedlings exhibited a loss of chlorophyll content. (B) Quantification of chlorophyll levels of each genotype shown in (A). Error bars represent standard errors (n = 6). FW, fresh weight. (C) Tolerance of enh1 mutant plants to H2O2. Seeds were directly sown in media containing 0.5 mM H2O2. (D) Fresh weight of 30 seedlings per genotype shown in (C). Error bars represent standard error (n = 6).
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Although the salt hypersensitivity of sos3-1 can be ameliorated by an external calcium supply (33), the rescuing effect of external calcium could not be observed with the sos3-1 enh1-1 (Fig. 2B) mutant or sos2 mutants. Therefore, both SOS2 and ENH1 are required for the pathway mediating the amelioration effect of external calcium. Yeast two-hybrid interaction studies have identified several SOS3-like proteins that interact with SOS2 (20). It is possible that the ENH1 pathway is important for the rescuing effect of external calcium, and it involves not only ENH1 but also SOS2 and another member of the family of SOS3-like calcium-binding proteins that may interact and activate SOS2.
The ENH1 gene encodes a chloroplast-localized rubredoxin-like protein that shows greatest sequence similarity to rubredoxin proteins from Pyrococcus furiosus and Nostoc sp. strain PCC 7120 (Fig. 5). Rubredoxins are known as nonheme iron proteins in which a single Fe atom is covalently attached by four S atoms from cysteine residues (10). The suggested biochemical role for rubredoxin proteins is to act as a mediator of electron transfer for various enzymes (41). The rubredoxin from Pseudomonas oleovorans has been reported to be involved in the electron transfer pathway for the
-hydroxylation of alkanes and fatty acids in the presence of NADH and O2 (46), whereas the rubredoxin from Desulfovibrio gigas functions as an electron donor to a favohemoprotein, rubredoxin-oxygen oxidoreductase (11).
Recently, an alternative pathway for superoxide reduction has been proposed for anaerobic microorganisms, whereby the reduction of superoxide to H2O2 is carried out by the catalytic action of a mononuclear iron-containing enzyme, superoxide reductase (SOR) (5, 13, 26, 27, 36-38). H2O2, the only product of the SOR reaction, is then likely reduced to H2O by peroxidases or other enzymes (1, 26). This role is in sharp contrast to the role of superoxide dismutase from aerobic organisms, which converts superoxide to H2O2 and O2. Rubredoxins from various anaerobes, including Pyrococcus furiosus and Desulfovibrio vulgaris, appear to function as an electron donor to SOR to avoid the production of O2 in superoxide detoxification (7, 13, 26, 38). Rubredoxin is then reduced by the enzyme NADPH:rubredoxin oxidoreductase, with NADPH as the electron source (18, 39).
No rubredoxin activity could be detected using recombinant ENH1 protein in vitro with the SOR reaction system (26) from Pyrococcus furiosus (data not shown). However, we observed that the enh1 mutant plants accumulated much higher levels of ROS than their wild-type parental plants (Fig. 6). This finding indicates that ENH1 somehow plays an important role in ROS detoxification that is most likely related to chloroplast function where ENH1 is localized.
From our results, it is clear that the ion homeostasis pathway is connected to a pathway that controls salt stress-elicited ROS detoxification. This connection involves not only ENH1 and SOS2 but also SOS1, because SOS1 appears to control ENH1 expression under salt stress (Fig. 5G). Besides being an ion transporter regulated by SOS2, some evidence suggests that SOS1 may also have a regulatory role. SOS1 interacts with RCD1, a regulator of oxidative stress (28), and sos1 mutant plants are also more sensitive to H2O2. How SOS1 regulates ENH1 expression under salt stress is not known at the present time, although this regulation may involve RCD1.
The ENH1 pathway may also have a role in ion homeostasis regulation, since the enh1 mutation enhances the ion homeostasis defect of sos3-1 and blocks the rescuing effect of external calcium (Fig. 2 and 3). How ENH1 and salt stress-induced ROS regulate ion transport is unclear. However, the function of ROS in signal transduction has been extensively studied (3), and ROS signaling targets several mediators of ion transport (16, 29, 45, 55). The activity of ROS to control K+ channels could explain both the hypersensitivity of enh1 mutants to K+ deficiency, and possibly even to excess Na+, by interfering with K+/Na+ transport selectivity. The role of ROS in ion transport control of stomatal behavior has been particularly examined in detail also, and the function of stomata in enh1 mutants needs to be examined more closely. In addition, ROS have been shown to affect cytoplasmic pH (59), which is crucial to the cell response to excessive Na+. Entry of Na+ increases cytoplasmic pH, which must be readjusted. This crucial adjustment in response to excess Na+ may be substantially affected by excess ROS production. Although ENH1 may affect ROS and subsequently Na+ and K+ responses in one or more of these general manners, it may also involve a more specific function through RCD1, since RCD1 interacts with SOS1. Regardless of the exact mechanisms, the discovery of the ENH1 ROS detoxification pathway and of the cross talk between the two salt tolerance pathways opens up new approaches of research that are important for a full understanding of salt tolerance in plants. The connection between SOS1 and both ENH1 and RCD1 suggests that SOS1 may have multiple roles in stress adaptation besides its role in ion transport. The apparent multiple roles of SOS1 and SOS2 in both ion homeostasis and ROS regulation emphasize the central role of the SOS pathway in salt stress tolerance.
Published ahead of print on 7 May 2007. ![]()
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-oxidation. III. purification and properties of rubredoxin, a component of the
-hydroxylation system of Pseudomonas oleovorans. J. Biol. Chem. 243:329-334.This article has been cited by other articles:
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