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Regulatory function of Arabidopsis lipid transfer protein 1 (LTP1) in ethylene response and signaling

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Abstract

Ethylene as a gaseous plant hormone is directly involved in various processes during plant growth and development. Much is known regarding the ethylene receptors and regulatory factors in the ethylene signal transduction pathway. In Arabidopsis thaliana, REVERSION-TO-ETHYLENE SENSITIVITY1 (RTE1) can interact with and positively regulates the ethylene receptor ETHYLENE RESPONSE1 (ETR1). In this study we report the identification and characterization of an RTE1-interacting protein, a putative Arabidopsis lipid transfer protein 1 (LTP1) of unknown function. Through bimolecular fluorescence complementation, a direct molecular interaction between LTP1 and RTE1 was verified in planta. Analysis of an LTP1-GFP fusion in transgenic plants and plasmolysis experiments revealed that LTP1 is localized to the cytoplasm. Analysis of ethylene responses showed that the ltp1 knockout is hypersensitive to 1-aminocyclopropanecarboxylic acid (ACC), while LTP1 overexpression confers insensitivity. Analysis of double mutants etr1-2 ltp1 and rte1-3 ltp1 demonstrates a regulatory function of LTP1 in ethylene receptor signaling through the molecular association with RTE1. This study uncovers a novel function of Arabidopsis LTP1 in the regulation of ethylene response and signaling.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. R.A. Martienssen (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) for providing the seeds of ltp1 mutant. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31370322, 31571389) and Shandong Natural Science Foundation (ZR2012CM022) to CHD, National Natural Science Foundation of China (31400247) to HP, and a grant from National Institutes of Health 1R01GM071855 to CC.

Authors contribution

H. Wang and Y. Sun did the plant experiments. J. Chang and F. Zheng did the protein interaction assay. H. Pei and Y. Yi did data analysis. C. Chang and C.H. Dong designed the experiments and wrote the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Sciences, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109, China

    Honglin Wang, Yue Sun, Fangfang Zheng, Haixia Pei, Yanjun Yi & Chun-Hai Dong

  2. Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Jianhong Chang & Caren Chang

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  1. Honglin Wang
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  2. Yue Sun
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  3. Jianhong Chang
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Correspondence to Caren Chang or Chun-Hai Dong.

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Wang, H., Sun, Y., Chang, J. et al. Regulatory function of Arabidopsis lipid transfer protein 1 (LTP1) in ethylene response and signaling. Plant Mol Biol 91, 471–484 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-016-0482-7

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