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IN BRIEF

Ferredoxin-Thioredoxin System Plays a Key Role in Plant Response to Oxidative Stress

neckardt{at}aspb.org

Ferredoxin (Fd) plays a central role in the physiology of the plant cell, distributing the reducing equivalents generated during photosynthetic electron transport to the electron-consuming reactions of the chloroplast. Fd can also function to eliminate excess reducing power and prevent uncontrolled overreduced states that occur in the stroma under physiological and stress conditions. However, Fd has been found to decrease in plants under a number of environmental stress conditions. In cyanobacteria, the decline in Fd under stress conditions is offset by induction of flavodoxins (Flds), which are restricted to prokaryotes and some eukaryotic algae. Tognetti et al. (pages 2035–2050) show that purified cyanobacterial Fld is able to mediate plant Fd-dependent reactions in vitro, including NADP⁺ and thioredoxin reduction. The authors further show that the expression of cyanobacterial Fld in tobacco compensated for the decline in Fd under adverse environmental conditions and resulted in transgenic lines exhibiting increased tolerance to multiple sources of oxidative stress, including redox-cycling herbicides, extreme temperatures, high irradiation, water deficit, and UV radiation. The data point to the ferredoxin-thioredoxin reductase system as a key element in plant tolerance to oxidative stress.

View larger version (42K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Wild-type plants and transformants expressing plastidic Fld (pfld5-8) exposed to methyl viologen, a severe oxidative stress–inducing herbicide.

Related articles in Plant Cell:

Functional Replacement of Ferredoxin by a Cyanobacterial Flavodoxin in Tobacco Confers Broad-Range Stress Tolerance

Vanesa B. Tognetti, Javier F. Palatnik, María F. Fillat, Michael Melzer, Mohammad-Reza Hajirezaei, Estela M. Valle, and Néstor Carrillo
Plant Cell 2006 18: 2035-2050. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Plant Cell Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Eckardt, N. A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Eckardt, N. A. Agricola Articles by Eckardt, N. A.