|
|
||||||||
|
American Society of Plant Biologists Overexpression of Arabidopsis ESR1 Induces Initiation of Shoot RegenerationLaboratory of Plant Molecular Biology, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York 10021-6399 2 To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail chua{at}rockvax.rockefeller.edu; fax 212-327-8327
Functional screening of an Arabidopsis cDNA library enabled the identification of a novel cDNA, ESR1 (for Enhancer of Shoot Regeneration), that can confer cytokinin-independent shoot formation when overexpressed in Arabidopsis root explants. Neither callus induction nor root formation was affected by ESR1 overexpression. ESR1 encodes a putative transcription factor with an AP2/EREBP domain. Surprisingly, ESR1 overexpression also greatly increased the efficiency of shoot regeneration from root explants in the presence of cytokinin, with a shift in the optimal cytokinin concentration required for this process. The effects of ESR1 overexpression on shoot regeneration are synergistic with those of cytokinin. Overexpression of ESR1 cannot induce callus formation or root formation, suggesting that its effects are specific to shoot formation. In wild-type Arabidopsis plants, ESR1 expression was induced by cytokinin. ESR1 transcript levels also increased transiently during shoot regeneration from root explants, most probably in response to cytokinin in the shoot-inducing medium. This transient increase occurred after the acquisition of competence for regeneration and before shoot formation, which is consistent with the physiological effects of ESR1 overexpression. Our results suggest that ESR1 may regulate the induction of shoot regeneration after the acquisition of competence for organogenesis.
Despite the considerable potential of de novo organogenesis as a model experimental system to elucidate the intricacies of plant cell differentiation, at present there is little insight regarding the primary determinants of the capacity of undifferentiated callus cells to regenerate shoot buds. The requirement for a defined auxin/cytokinin ratio in the regeneration medium has long been appreciated (Reinert and Bajaj, 1977
In general, it is thought that organogenesis is composed of three sequential phases (Hicks, 1994
Using an Arabidopsis tissue culture system, three temperature-sensitive mutants, srd1, srd2, and srd3, with defects in shoot regeneration (Yasutani et al., 1994 Here, we describe the cloning of a novel cDNA, Arabidopsis ESR1 (for Enhancer of Shoot Regeneration), whose overexpression confers cytokinin-independent shoot generation from Arabidopsis root cultures. ESR1 overexpression also greatly increased shoot regeneration efficiency in the presence of cytokinin, although neither callus induction nor root regeneration was affected. Expression of ESR1 in wild-type Arabidopsis is induced by cytokinins. We also investigated the timing of ESR1 expression during the shoot regeneration process. A transient increase in ESR1 expression during shoot regeneration is consistent with its participation in this developmental transition.
Screening of cDNAs Whose Overexpression Confers Cytokinin-Independent Shoot Formation To identify Arabidopsis genes involved in shoot regeneration, we screened for cDNAs that can confer cytokinin-independent shoot formation from root cultures when overexpressed. For this purpose, a cDNA library was constructed by cloning cDNAs downstream of a 35S promoter of Cauliflower mosaic virus in the binary vector pSK34. Arabidopsis root segments were transformed with the cDNA library using Agrobacterium, and the root cultures were incubated on media lacking cytokinin. On the basis of the efficiency of shoot regeneration from a portion of the total transformed roots incubated on SIM supplemented with kanamycin and carbenicillin, we estimated that 100,000 independent transformation events were interrogated for their ability to confer cytokinin-independent shoot formation. After 4 weeks, nine shoots and one dark green callus were recovered from the plates. Genomic DNA was prepared from the transformed explants, and the cDNA transgenes that were recovered by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)mediated amplification were reinserted into the binary vector pSK34 for retransformation. Among the recovered cDNAs, constitutive expression of cDNA 9 (recovered from a dark green callus) clearly conferred cytokinin autonomy. The transformed calli were darker green and unable to produce any shoots. cDNA 9 was cloned into a 17 -estradiolinducible expression vector, pER10 (Zuo et al., 2000
Figure 1
shows that transformants carrying the empty vector pER10 generated shoots only in the presence of cytokinin. On the other hand, in the absence of cytokinin, transformants that overexpressed cDNA 9 displayed a shoot regeneration response comparable to that observed in root cultures transformed with the empty vector in the presence of cytokinin. Root cultures transformed with pER10-ESR1 occasionally generated green calli in the absence of cytokinin and the 17
Sequence Analysis of ESR1 Sequence analysis predicted that ESR1 encodes a protein of 328 amino acids with a molecular mass of 36.27 kD (Figure 2A) . The ESR1 protein contains a domain with sequence homology with the AP2/EREBP domain found in a group of transcriptional factors in higher plants (Okamuro et al., 1997
Sensitivity of ESR1-Overexpressing Cells to Cytokinin We examined the effects of ESR1 overexpression on sensitivity to cytokinin using root cultures derived from a transgenic plant line carrying a 17 -estradiolinducible ESR1 cDNA (pER8-ESR1) (Figure 3A)
. Transgenic root cultures induced to overexpress ESR1 were hypersensitive to cytokinin compared with those under noninducing conditions or with control root cultures carrying the empty vector under inducing or noninducing conditions. The number of regenerated shoots from ESR1-overexpressing root cultures was much greater than that of root cultures without induced ESR1 expression or that of root cultures carrying the empty vector alone under inducing or noninducing conditions. In addition, the optimum concentration of N6- 2-isopentenyladenine (2-ip) was shifted to a lower value. Figure 3B shows the ESR1 transcript levels in transgenic lines under inducing and noninducing conditions. ESR1 transcripts were induced specifically with 17 -estradiol in the transgenic line carrying a pER8-ESR1 construct. Three other lines with high ESR1 inducibility also showed the same effects (data not shown).
Effects of ESR1 Overexpression on Callus Development, Root Regeneration, and Shoot Regeneration We also examined whether ESR1 overexpression affected callus development or root regeneration (Figure 4) . Root segments from the transgenic line used in the experiment described above were precultured on CIM for 4 days before being transferred onto SIM, RIM, or CIM in the presence or absence of the inducer for 4 weeks. Whereas shoot formation was enhanced by ESR1 overexpression, neither callus formation nor root formation was affected. The effects of ESR1 overexpression were specific to shoot regeneration. ESR1-induced explants not only generated more shoots on SIM but also produced darker green calli than did explants incubated without the inducer (Figures 4C and 4D). Extended incubation on RIM occasionally resulted in shoot formation, although the number was much lower than that on SIM with the inducer (data not shown). Without the inducer, explants did not generate any shoots on RIM even after an 8-week incubation. These results indicate that ESR1 overexpression specifically enhances shoot regeneration and greening rather than callus formation or root formation.
Effects of the Constitutive Expression of ESR1 on Plants Root explants were transformed with a 35S:ESR1 construct, and 100 independent transformed calli were recovered. These transformed calli were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium or SIM, but none developed normal leaves. In contrast, 80% of calli carrying the empty vector developed into transgenic plants with normal leaves and flowers. Figure 5A
shows representative independent calli carrying the 35S:ESR1 construct. Overexpression of ESR1 strongly inhibited normal leaf formation and resulted in dark green calli. We also attempted to transform Arabidopsis with the 35S:ESR1 construct via vacuum transformation, but only one transgenic plant was obtained (Clough and Bent, 1998
ESR1 Expression during Shoot Regeneration We used RNA gel blot hybridization to investigate the time course of ESR1 expression in wild-type root cultures during shoot regeneration. After preincubation on CIM, root segments were transferred onto SIM and total RNAs were prepared. Proliferating cells formed small clusters inside root cortex when the root cultures were transferred onto SIM. Subsequently, the clusters formed green calli 1 week after the transfer to SIM, and shoot structures were observed 1 week later. A 5' nucleotide sequence encoding the N-terminal region located before the ESR1 AP2 domain was used as a specific RNA probe to prevent cross-hybridization with other AP2/EREBP transcripts. We found that ESR1 transcript levels increased 1 hr after transfer onto SIM, reached a maximum after 24 hr, and then remained at this level until 48 hr before they declined (Figure 6B)
. The induction was not caused by the stress associated with the transfer of the roots or by supplying unconditioned medium, because incubation on fresh CIM did not affect ESR1 transcript levels (Figure 6B). Whereas expression of shoot meristemless (STM), which is required for the formation of shoot apical meristem (SAM) (Endrizzi et al., 1996
Induction of ESR1 Transcript Accumulation by Cytokinin We investigated ESR1 transcript levels in wild-type plants after treatment with various phytohormones (Figure 7A) . Whereas the transcript levels of AtEBP (Buttner and Singh, 1997 1-cm segments and transferred onto MS medium with or without 2,4-D, because the CIM used in the pretreatment for shoot regeneration contained 2,4-D and the pretreatment was essential for the highest shoot regeneration efficiency. We found that pretreatment on MS medium containing only 2,4-D could replace CIM for efficient shoot regeneration (unpublished data). Accordingly, roots were incubated on MS medium containing 2,4-D for 3 days and then transferred onto MS media containing various cytokinins. ESR1 transcript levels were induced by all cytokinin treatments, but only after preincubation with 2,4-D. The induction was not caused by 2,4-D removal, because transfer to MS medium without 2,4-D did not induce ESR1 expression. These results demonstrate that ESR1 expression is induced by cytokinins and that the induction requires a 2,4-D preincubation, suggesting that ESR1 expression can be switched on after the acquisition of competence for shoot differentiation.
Functions of ESR1 in Cytokinin Signaling We have isolated and characterized a novel cDNA whose overexpression conferred cytokinin-independent shoot regeneration on Arabidopsis root explants. Because our screening was based on the ability of overexpressed cDNAs to substitute for cytokinin required for shoot regeneration, the cDNAs obtained may encode factors involved in cytokinin signaling. However, overexpression of ESR1 under the control of the estradiol-inducible XVE system (Zuo et al., 2000 We have recovered a T-DNAtagged mutant of Arabidopsis with insertion in the ESR1 coding sequence. This mutant is indistinguishable from the wild-type plants, suggesting the presence of related genes with redundant function (data not shown). Indeed, analysis of the Arabidopsis genome uncovered at least one gene with sequence homology with ESR1.
Biochemical Function of ESR1
Insights for ESR1 Functions in the Shoot Regeneration Process Induction of ESR1 expression required a pretreatment on CIM (Figure 7B). Some factors required for ESR1 expression appear to be induced or activated by CIM pretreatment, during which cells acquire competence for shoot regeneration. We noted that overexpression of ESR1 itself was not sufficient for efficient shoot regeneration. The latter appears to require some other factors that are activated or induced by cytokinin during incubation on SIM. In 2-week-old plants, ESR1 was induced by cytokinin without pretreatment with 2,4-D (Figure 7A), although the induced transcript level was much lower than that obtained in root cultures after 2,4-D pretreatment (Figure 7B). Vegetative tissues appear to contain a substantial number of cells that are competent for ESR1 induction.
Our results support the hypothesis (Christianson and Warnick, 1983
Plant Materials and Growth Conditions Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Wassilewskija was used for root cultures. Seed were sterilized and sown on Murashige and Skoog (1962) 2-isopentenyladenine (2-ip), and 0.25% Phytagel; RIM: Gamborg's B5 salts, 2% glucose, Gamborg's B5 vitamins, 2.5 µM indole-3-acetic acid, and 0.25% Phytagel. C medium is SIM without 2-ip but supplemented with 0.4 g/L carbenicillin and 50 mg/L kanamycin.
Construction of a cDNA Library
Screening of Cytokinin-Independent Shoots
Cytokinin Sensitivity Assay
RNA Gel Blot Analysis
Accession Numbers
We thank Dr. Peter Hare and Dr. Mathias Zeidler for critical reading of the manuscript.
Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.010234.
1 Current address: Department of Environmental Biology, School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chubu University, 1200 Matsumoto-cho, Kasugai, Aichi 487-8501, Japan. Received June 7, 2001; accepted September 25, 2001.
Allen, M.D., Yamasaki, K., Ohme-Takagi, M., Tateno, M., and Suzuki, M. (1998). A novel mode of DNA recognition by a beta-sheet revealed by the solution structure of the GCC-box binding domain in complex with DNA. EMBO J. 17, 54845496.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] Aoyama, T., and Chua, N.H. (1997). A glucocorticoid-mediated transcriptional induction system in transgenic plants. Plant J. 11, 605612.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]
Buttner, M., and Singh, K.B. (1997). Arabidopsis thaliana ethylene-responsive element binding protein (AtEBP), an ethylene-inducible, GCC box DNA-binding protein interacts with an ocs element binding protein. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94, 59615966. Chang, C., and Shockey, J.A. (1999). The ethylene-response pathway: Signal perception to gene regulation. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 2, 352358.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] Christianson, M.L., and Warnick, D.A. (1983). Competence and determination in the process of in vitro shoot organogenesis. Dev. Biol. 95, 288293.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] Christianson, M.L., and Warnick, D.A. (1984). Phenocritical times in the process of in vitro shoot organogenesis. Dev. Biol. 101, 382390.[CrossRef][Medline] Christianson, M.L., and Warnick, D.A. (1985). Temporal requirement for phytohormone balance in the control of organogenesis in vitro. Dev. Biol. 112, 494497.[CrossRef] Clough, S.J., and Bent, A.F. (1998). Floral dip: A simplified method for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant J. 16, 735743.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] D'Agostino, I.B., and Kieber, J.J. (1999). Molecular mechanisms of cytokinin action. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 2, 359364.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] Endrizzi, K., Moussian, B., Haecker, A., Levin, J.Z., and Laux, T. (1996). The SHOOT MERISTEMLESS gene is required for maintenance of undifferentiated cells in Arabidopsis shoot and floral meristems and acts at a different regulatory level than the meristem genes WUSCHEL and ZWILLE. Plant J. 10, 967979.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] Foote, H.C.C., Brady, G., Thorlby, G.J., and Flanklin, C.H. (1994). Subtractive hybridization of different mRNA populations. In Plant Molecular Biology: A Laboratory Manual, M.S. Clark, ed (Berlin: Springer-Verlag), pp. 201220.
Fujimoto, S.Y., Ohta, M., Usui, A., Shinshi, H., and Ohme-Takagi, M. (2000). Arabidopsis ethylene-responsive element binding factors act as transcriptional activators or repressors of GCC boxmediated gene expression. Plant Cell 12, 393404.
Hao, D., Ohme-Takagi, M., and Sarai, A. (1998). Unique mode of GCC box recognition by the DNA-binding domain of ethylene-responsive element-binding factor (ERF domain) in plant. J. Biol. Chem. 273, 2685726861. Hicks, G.S. (1994). Shoot induction and organogenesis in vitro: A developmental perspective. In Vitro Cell Dev. Biol. 30, 1015. Inoue, T., Higuchi, M., Hashimoto, Y., Seki, M., Kobayashi, M., Kato, T., Tabata, S., Shinozaki, K., and Kakimoto, T. (2001). Identification of CRE1 as a cytokinin receptor from Arabidopsis. Nature 409, 10601063.[CrossRef][Medline]
Kagaya, Y., Ohmiya, K., and Hattori, T. (1999). RAV1, a novel DNA-binding protein, binds to bipartite recognition sequence through two distinct DNA-binding domains uniquely found in higher plants. Nucleic Acids Res. 27, 470478. Kakimoto, T. (1998). Cytokinin signaling. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 1, 399403.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] Klucher, K.M., Chow, H., Reiser, L., and Fischer, R.L. (1996). The AINTEGUMENTA gene of Arabidopsis required for ovule and female gametophyte development is related to the floral homeotic gene APETALA2. Plant Cell 8, 137153.[Abstract] Kojima, S., Banno, H., Yoshioka, Y., Oka, A., Machida, C., and Machida, Y. (1999). A binary vector plasmid for gene expression in plant cells that is stably maintained in Agrobacterium cells. DNA Res. 6, 407410.[CrossRef][Medline]
Koncz, C., Martini, N., Mayerhofer, R., Koncz-Kalman, Z., Korber, H., Redei, G.P., and Schell, J. (1989). High-frequency T-DNA-mediated gene tagging in plants. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86, 84678471.
Lakshmanan, P., Ng, S.K., Loh, C.S., and Gof, C.J. (1997). Auxin, cytokinin and ethylene differentially regulate specific developmental states associated with shoot bud morphogenesis in leaf tissues of mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.) cultured in vitro. Plant Cell Physiol. 38, 5964. Long, J.A., Moan, E.I., Medford, J.I., and Barton, M.K. (1996). A member of the KNOTTED class of homeodomain proteins en-coded by the STM gene of Arabidopsis. Nature 379, 6669.[CrossRef][Medline]
Moose, S.P., and Sisco, P.H. (1996). Glossy15, an APETALA2-like gene from maize that regulates leaf epidermal cell identity. Genes Dev. 10, 30183027. Murashige, T., and Skoog, F. (1962). A revised medium for rapid growth and bioassays with tobacco tissue culture. Physiol. Plant. 15, 473497.[CrossRef] Ohme-Takagi, M., and Shinshi, H. (1995). Ethylene-inducible DNA binding proteins that interact with an ethylene-responsive element. Plant Cell 7, 173182.[Abstract]
Okamuro, J.K., Caster, B., Villarroel, R., Van Montagu, M., and Jofuku, K.D. (1997). The AP2 domain of APETALA2 defines a large new family of DNA binding proteins in Arabidopsis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94, 70767081. Ozawa, S., Yasutani, I., Fukuda, H., Komamine, A., and Sugiyama, M. (1998). Organogenic responses in tissue culture of srd mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana. Development 125, 135142.[Abstract] Reinert, J., and Bajaj, Y.P.S. (1977). Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture. (New York: Springer-Verlag). Riechmann, J.L., and Meyerowitz, E.M. (1998). The AP2/EREBP family of plant transcription factors. Biol. Chem. 379, 633646.[ISI][Medline] Sambrook, J., Fritsch, E.F., and Maniatis, T. (1989). Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 2nd ed. (Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press). Skoog, F., and Miller, C.O. (1957). Chemical regulation of growth and organ formation in plant tissues cultured in vitro. Symp. Soc. Exp. Biol. 11, 118140. Sugiyama, M. (1999). Organogenesis in vitro. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 2, 6164.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]
Ueguchi, C., Sato, S., Kato, T., and Tabata, S. (2001). The AHK4 gene involved in the cytokinin-signaling pathway as a direct receptor molecule in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell Physiol. 42, 751755. Yasutani, I., Ozawa, S., Nishida, T., Sugiyama, M., and Komamine, A. (1994). Isolation of temperature-sensitive mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana that are defective in the redifferentiation of shoots. Plant Physiol. 105, 815822.[Abstract] Zuo, J., Niu, Q.W., and Chua, N.H. (2000). An estrogen receptorbased transactivator XVE mediates highly inducible gene expression in transgenic plants. Plant J. 24, 265273.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| ASPB Publications | THE PLANT CELL | PLANT PHYSIOLOGY | |
|---|---|---|---|