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cDNA cloning and differential expression patterns of ascorbate peroxidase during post-harvest in Brassica rapa L.

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Abstract

Ascorbate is an antioxidant and a cofactor of many dioxygenases in plant and animal cell metabolism. A well-recognized enzyme consuming ascorbate is ascorbate peroxidase (APX), which catalyses the reduction of hydrogen peroxide to water with the simultaneous oxidation of ascorbate with a high specificity. The isolation and characterisation of new Apx cDNAs, could provide new insights about the physiological roles and regulation of these enzymes. In this work chloroplastic (Br-chlApx) and cytosolic (Br-cApx) isoform transcripts were isolated by RT-PCR in Brassica rapa and expression changes were analysed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR performed in different tissues (layer, stalk and florets) at different days (0, 4 and 14 day). The result showed that BrApx isoforms were differentially expressed and the Br-chlApx, in particular in the layer, had the highest expression level and remained unchanged also after 14 day after harvest. In addition, expression changes were compared with total BrAPX activity and the results showed that the activity decreased in all tissues at 14 day after harvest, independently of transcripts. Finally, additional solutes as the substrate of APX ascorbate and its oxidized form, dehydroascorbate, as well as α-tocopherol, the major vitamin E compound that prevents the propagation of lipid peroxidation in thylakoid membranes, were followed. The changes in the BrApx expression, BrAPX activity and metabolites can provide further evidence of the close relationships that exist between antioxidants which compensate for each other and suggest that there are multiple sites of reciprocal control.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. Joseph Sepe (University of Maryland University College), for improving the manuscript. This work has been supported by “Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli”, “Ministero dell’Università”, “Ministero della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica” of Italy (PRIN 2008S9T3KK_003), “Regione Campania, PSR 2007-2013 Misura 214 azione f2 progetto Agrigenet”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Science, II University of Naples, via Vivaldi 43, 81100, Caserta, Italy

    Pasqualina Woodrow, Amodio Fuggi, Giovanni Pontecorvo, Ioannis Kafantaris, Maria Grazia Annunziata, Giuseppina Massaro & Petronia Carillo

  2. Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, Potsdam-Golm, Germany

    Maria Grazia Annunziata

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  1. Pasqualina Woodrow
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  2. Amodio Fuggi
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Correspondence to Pasqualina Woodrow.

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The nucleotide sequence data are deposited in GenBank Data Library under accession numbers: (HE574697–HE574700).

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11033_2012_1627_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Figure S1. RT-PCR analysis of BrApx transcripts in Brassica rapa layer at 0d. M, molecular mass markers, 1, 2, 3, 4, BrApx1, BrApx2, Br-sApx and Br-tApx cDNA, respectively. (TIFF 112 kb)

11033_2012_1627_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Figure S2. Multiple alignments of the deduced amino acid sequences of Brassica rapa APX proteins. Dashes indicate gaps The N-terminal extensions of the chloroplastic BrAPXs and the C-terminal extensions of the chlAPXs were not included in the alignment. Dashed line followed by slash indicates the omitted N-terminal; slash followed by dashed line indicates the omitted C-terminals. Asterisks denote the deduced termination of the proteins. Red-font letters indicate the conserved residues of the catalytic site [43, 45] including Arg172 [48]. Turquoise-font letters indicate the cation–ligand residues [13, 45]. Violet-font letters indicate the amino acid residues involved in the electrostatic interactions between subunits. Green-font letters indicate the amino acid residues that are involved in the active site of the proteins which binds the ascorbate, residues for the ligand heme and site substrate binding [43]. Yellow indicate identical residues, in the same positions. (TIFF 616 kb)

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Woodrow, P., Fuggi, A., Pontecorvo, G. et al. cDNA cloning and differential expression patterns of ascorbate peroxidase during post-harvest in Brassica rapa L.. Mol Biol Rep 39, 7843–7853 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-012-1627-7

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