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Hpa1 harpin needs nitroxyl terminus to promote vegetative growth and leaf photosynthesis in Arabidopsis

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Abstract

Hpa1 is a harpin protein produced by Xanthomonas oryzae, an important bacterial pathogen of rice, and has the growth-promoting activity in plants. To understand the molecular basis for the function of Hpa1, we generated an inactive variant protein, Hpa1ΔNT, by deleting the nitroxyl-terminal region of the Hpa1 sequence and compared Hpa1ΔNT with the full-length protein in terms of the effects on vegetative growth and related physiological responses in Arabidopsis. When Hpa1 was applied to plants, it acted to enhance the vegetative growth but did not affect the floral development. Enhanced plant growth was accompanied by induced expression of growth-promoting genes in plant leaves. The growth-promoting activity of Hpa1 was further correlated with a physiological consequence shown as promoted leaf photosynthesis as a result of facilitated CO2 conduction through leaf stomata and mesophyll cells. On the contrary, plant growth, growth-promoting gene expression, and the physiological consequence changed little in response to the Hpa1ΔNT treatment. These analyses suggest that Hpa1 requires the nitroxyl-terminus to facilitate CO2 transport inside leaf cells and promote leaf photosynthesis and vegetative growth of the plant.

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Acknowledgements

We thank our university colleague Professor Shiwei Guo for assistance with Li-6400XT and chlorophyll fluorescence analyser. This study was supported by Natural Science Foundation (31272072) and Novel Transgenic Organisms Breeding Project (2013ZX08002001-007) of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Crop Pathogens and Insect Pests, Nanjing Agricultural University, Jiangsu, 210095, China

    Xiaojie Li, Liping Han, Yanying Zhao, Zhenzhen You, Hansong Dong & Chunling Zhang

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  1. Xiaojie Li
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  2. Liping Han
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  3. Yanying Zhao
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  4. Zhenzhen You
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  5. Hansong Dong
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Correspondence to Chunling Zhang.

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Corresponding editor: R GEETA

[Li X, Han L, Zhao Y, You Z, Dong H and Zhang C 2013 Hpa1 harpin needs nitroxyl terminus to promote vegetative growth and leaf photosynthesis in Arabidopsis. J. Biosci. 39 1–11] DOI 10.1007/s12038-013-9408-6

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Li, X., Han, L., Zhao, Y. et al. Hpa1 harpin needs nitroxyl terminus to promote vegetative growth and leaf photosynthesis in Arabidopsis. J Biosci 39, 127–137 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-013-9408-6

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