Abstract
Following the screening of a suppression subtractive library developed from durum wheat plants exposed to low temperature for 6 h, two early cold-regulated (e-cor) genes have been isolated. These genes, coding putatively for a ribokinase (7H8) and a C3H2C3 RING-finger protein (6G2), were characterized by the stress-induced retention of a subset of introns in the mature mRNA. This feature was dependent on cold for 7H8 and on cold and dehydration for 6G2. When other genes, such as the stress-related gene WCOR410c, coding for a dehydrin (one intron), or a gene coding for a putative ATP binding cassette transporter (16 introns) were analyzed, no cold-dependent intron retention was observed. Cold-induced intron retention was not observed in mutants defective in the chloroplast development; nevertheless treatment with cycloheximide in the absence of cold was able to promote intron retention for the 7H8 e-cor gene. These results suggest that the cold-induced intron retention reflects the response of the spliceosoma to specific environmental signals transduced to the splicing protein factors through a chloroplast-dependent pathway. Notably, when the 7H8 Arabidopsis orthologous gene was analyzed, no stress induction in terms of mRNA abundance and no cold-dependent intron retention was detected. Otherwise, 6G2 Arabidopsis homologous sequences sharing the same genomic structure of the durum wheat 6G2 showed a similar intron retention event although not strictly dependent on stress.
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Abbreviations
- ATMEKK:
-
Arabidopsis thaliana MAP kinase or ERK kinase kinase
- CBF/DREB1:
-
C-repeat binding factor/dehydration responsive element binding protein
- RWC:
-
Relative water content
- RPL12:
-
Ribosomal protein L12
- e-cor :
-
Early cold-regulated
- Pfam:
-
Protein families database
- SMART:
-
Simple modular architecture research tool
- RING:
-
Really interesting gene
- SUMO:
-
Small ubiquitin-related modifier
- CHX:
-
Cycloheximide
- dhn8 :
-
Dehydrin 8
- WCOR410c:
-
Wheat cold-regulated gene 410c
- ABC:
-
ATP binding cassette
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Ministry of Science (Progetto FIRB-plant stress) and Ministry of Agriculture (Progetto FRUMISIS) of Italy. The authors thank Dr. Matteo Busconi (Institute for Plant Genetics, Catholic University of Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy) for his technical assistance during sequencing.
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Mastrangelo, A.M., Belloni, S., Barilli, S. et al. Low temperature promotes intron retention in two e-cor genes of durum wheat. Planta 221, 705–715 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-004-1475-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-004-1475-3