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Retrotransposons and the Eternal Leaves

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Plant Transposable Elements

Part of the book series: Topics in Current Genetics ((TCG,volume 24))

Abstract

The resurrection plant Craterostigma plantagineum can tolerate up to 96% loss of its relative water content and recover within hours after rehydration. In callus tissue desiccation tolerance is induced by pre-incubation with Abscisic acid (ABA). In callus and plant ABA treatment and dehydration induce a set of dehydration-responsive genes. T-DNA activation tagging led to the identification of CDT-1, a dehydration- and ABA-responsive gene, which renders calli tolerant without ABA pre-incubation. Molecular analysis indicated that CDT-1 is a retroelement, present in multiple copy in the genome, able to direct the synthesis of small RNAs responsible for desiccation tolerance. Transposition of CDT-1 retroelements have progressively increased the capacity of the species to synthesize small RNAs and thus recover after desiccation. This may be a case of evolution towards the acquisition of a new trait, stimulated by the environment acting directly on intra-genomic DNA replication.

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Acknowledgments

This work was mainly carried out at the Max-Planck-Institute (Cologne, Germany), supported in part by a grant of the EC BRIDGE programme. The supervision of Profs. D. Bartels and F. Salamini is fully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie, 15, 37134, Verona, Italy

    Antonella Furini

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  1. Antonella Furini
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Correspondence to Antonella Furini .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin (IJPB), INRA Versailles, UMR 1318, Versailles Cedex, 78026, France

    Marie-Angèle Grandbastien

  2. , Centre de Recerca en Agrigenomica (CRAG), CSIC-RTA-UAB, Barcelona, 08193, Spain

    Josep M. Casacuberta

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Furini, A. (2012). Retrotransposons and the Eternal Leaves. In: Grandbastien, MA., Casacuberta, J. (eds) Plant Transposable Elements. Topics in Current Genetics, vol 24. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31842-9_16

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