Skip to main content
PMC home page
The Plant Cell logoLink to The Plant Cell
. 1993 Nov;5(11):1611–1625. doi: 10.1105/tpc.5.11.1611

Development and Environmental Stress Employ Different Mechanisms in the Expression of a Plant Gene Family.

EJ DeRocher 1, HJ Bohnert 1
PMCID: PMC160390  PMID: 12271048

Abstract

Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit (RbcS) genes in the common ice plant, as in all higher plants, constitute a multigene family. We have measured transcription activity and steady state mRNA levels of individual members of the family, six RbcS genes, in the ice plant with emphasis on the transition from C3 photosynthesis to Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), which this plant undergoes during development and under environmental stress. Four RbcS genes are differentially expressed in leaves but are regulated in a coordinate fashion. A developmentally engrained, sharp decline in the steady state mRNA levels, which is observed during the juvenile-to-adult growth phase transition, coincides with the time interval when the C3-to-CAM switch occurs. Developmental down regulation of RbcS is due to down regulation of transcription. In contrast, NaCl stress specifically affected RbcS transcript accumulation post-transcriptionally, resulting in decreased RbcS mRNA levels. Antagonistic regulatory programs are apparent in stress/stress relief experiments. The results indicate complex controls, affecting both transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes, that act differentially during plant development, stress, and recovery from stress.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (3.9 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Cushman J. C., Michalowski C. B., Bohnert H. J. Developmental control of crassulacean Acid metabolism inducibility by salt stress in the common ice plant. Plant Physiol. 1990 Nov;94(3):1137–1142. doi: 10.1104/pp.94.3.1137. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. De Rocher E. J., Michalowski C. B., Bohnert H. J. cDNA Sequences for Transcripts of the Ribulose-1,5-Bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase Small Subunit Gene Family of Mesembryanthemum crystallinum. Plant Physiol. 1991 Mar;95(3):976–978. doi: 10.1104/pp.95.3.976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. DeRocher E. J., Quigley F., Mache R., Bohnert H. J. The six genes of the Rubisco small subunit multigene family from Mesembryanthemum crystallinum, a facultative CAM plant. Mol Gen Genet. 1993 Jun;239(3):450–462. doi: 10.1007/BF00276944. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Dean C., Favreau M., Dunsmuir P., Bedbrook J. Confirmation of the relative expression levels of the Petunia (Mitchell) rbcS genes. Nucleic Acids Res. 1987 Jun 11;15(11):4655–4668. doi: 10.1093/nar/15.11.4655. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dedonder A., Rethy R., Fredericq H., Van Montagu M., Krebbers E. Arabidopsis rbcS genes are differentially regulated by light. Plant Physiol. 1993 Mar;101(3):801–808. doi: 10.1104/pp.101.3.801. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Eckenrode V. K., Arnold J., Meagher R. B. Comparison of the nucleotide sequence of soybean 18S rRNA with the sequences of other small-subunit rRNAs. J Mol Evol. 1984;21(3):259–269. doi: 10.1007/BF02102358. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Feinberg A. P., Vogelstein B. A technique for radiolabeling DNA restriction endonuclease fragments to high specific activity. Anal Biochem. 1983 Jul 1;132(1):6–13. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(83)90418-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Fluhr Robert, Moses Phyllis, Morelli Giorgio, Coruzzi Gloria, Chua Nam-Hai. Expression dynamics of the pea rbcS multigene family and organ distribution of the transcripts. EMBO J. 1986 Sep;5(9):2063–2071. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04467.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Gilmartin P. M., Sarokin L., Memelink J., Chua N. H. Molecular light switches for plant genes. Plant Cell. 1990 May;2(5):369–378. doi: 10.1105/tpc.2.5.369. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lam E., Chua N. H. GT-1 binding site confers light responsive expression in transgenic tobacco. Science. 1990 Apr 27;248(4954):471–474. doi: 10.1126/science.2330508. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Manzara T., Carrasco P., Gruissem W. Developmental and organ-specific changes in promoter DNA-protein interactions in the tomato rbcS gene family. Plant Cell. 1991 Dec;3(12):1305–1316. doi: 10.1105/tpc.3.12.1305. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Michalowski C. B., Olson S. W., Piepenbrock M., Schmitt J. M., Bohnert H. J. Time Course of mRNA Induction Elicited by Salt Stress in the Common Ice Plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum). Plant Physiol. 1989 Mar;89(3):811–816. doi: 10.1104/pp.89.3.811. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Michalowski C. B., Schmitt J. M., Bohnert H. J. Expression during Salt Stress and Nucleotide Sequence of cDNA for Ferredoxin-NADP Reductase from Mesembryanthemum crystallinum. Plant Physiol. 1989 Mar;89(3):817–822. doi: 10.1104/pp.89.3.817. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Ostrem J. A., Olson S. W., Schmitt J. M., Bohnert H. J. Salt Stress Increases the Level of Translatable mRNA for Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxylase in Mesembryanthemum crystallinum. Plant Physiol. 1987 Aug;84(4):1270–1275. doi: 10.1104/pp.84.4.1270. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Ostrem J. A., Vernon D. M., Bohnert H. J. Increased expression of a gene coding for NAD:glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase during the transition from C3 photosynthesis to crassulacean acid metabolism in Mesembryanthemum crystallinum. J Biol Chem. 1990 Feb 25;265(6):3497–3502. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Silverthorne J., Tobin E. M. Post-transcriptional regulation of organ-specific expression of individual rbcS mRNAs in Lemna gibba. Plant Cell. 1990 Dec;2(12):1181–1190. doi: 10.1105/tpc.2.12.1181. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Silverthorne J., Wimpee C. F., Yamada T., Rolfe S. A., Tobin E. M. Differential expression of individual genes encoding the small subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase in Lemna gibba. Plant Mol Biol. 1990 Jul;15(1):49–58. doi: 10.1007/BF00017723. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Thompson D. M., Meagher R. B. Transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes regulate expression of RNA encoding the small subunit of ribulose-1,5-biphosphate carboxylase differently in petunia and in soybean. Nucleic Acids Res. 1990 Jun 25;18(12):3621–3629. doi: 10.1093/nar/18.12.3621. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Thompson D. M., Tanzer M. M., Meagher R. B. Degradation products of the mRNA encoding the small subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase in soybean and transgenic petunia. Plant Cell. 1992 Jan;4(1):47–58. doi: 10.1105/tpc.4.1.47. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Ueda T., Pichersky E., Malik V. S., Cashmore A. R. Level of expression of the tomato rbcS-3A gene is modulated by a far upstream promoter element in a developmentally regulated manner. Plant Cell. 1989 Feb;1(2):217–227. doi: 10.1105/tpc.1.2.217. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Vernon D. M., Ostrem J. A., Schmitt J. M., Bohnert H. J. PEPCase Transcript Levels in Mesembryanthemum crystallinum Decline Rapidly upon Relief from Salt Stress. Plant Physiol. 1988 Apr;86(4):1002–1004. doi: 10.1104/pp.86.4.1002. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Plant Cell are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES