Abstract
Leaves of the resurrection plant Craterostigma plantagineum Hochst, can be desiccated up to 1% relative water content and are still viable after rehydration. To clone genes related to this extreme desiccation tolerance, an in-vitro system was first developed which allows the induction of the same resurrection response in callus tissue upon treatment with abscisic acid (ABA). Several proteins and in-vitro-synthesized polypeptides were then identified which can be induced both in desiccation-tolerant, naturally dried leaves and in ABA-treated calli surviving after rehydration. Complementary-DNA clones corresponding to mRNAs expressed only in desiccation-tolerant tissues were obtained and classified into several gene families. In hybrid-selected translation experiments, representative cDNA clones were associated with water stress and ABA-inducible polypeptides abundantly expressed in dried leaves and ABA-treated calli. The expression pattern of several of these abundant transcripts was analyzed in RNA-hybridization experiments. Upon stress or ABA treatment the transcription levels increased rapidly, but they declined after relief from the stress state. This, together with data on genomic copy numbers indicated that a set of abundantly expressed genes are involved in the desiccation process of resurrection plants. Data on endogenous ABA contents before and after stress applications and on the physiological effects of exogenous ABA treatments indicate that in Craterostigma plantagineum the induction of an extreme desiccation tolerance is mediated by this plant hormone.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- ABA:
-
abscisic acid
- cDNA:
-
complementary DNA
- HRT:
-
hybrid-release translation
- 1×SSC:
-
0.15M NaCl and 0.015 M Na-citrate
- poly (A)+RNA:
-
polyadenylated RNA
References
Barnes, W.M. (1977) Plasmid detection and sizing in single colony lysates. Science 195, 393–394
Bartels, D., Thompson, R.D. (1983) The characterization of cDNA clones coding for wheat storage proteins. Nucleic Acids Res. 11, 2961–2978
Bartels, D. Altosaar, I., Harberd, N.P., Barker, R.F., Thompson, R.D. (1986) Molecular analysis of gamma-gliadin gene families at the complex Gli-1 locus of bread wheat (T. aestivum L.). Theor. Appl. Genet. 72, 845–853
Bartels, D., Singh, M., Salamini, F. (1988) Onset of desiccation tolerance during development of the barley embryo. Planta 175, 485–492
Beato, M. (1989) Gene regulation by steroid hormones. Cell 56, 335–344
Bewley, J.D., Kermode, A.R., Misra, S. (1989) Desiccation and minimal drying treatments of seeds of castor bean and Phaseolus vulgaris which terminate development and promote germination cause changes in protein and messenger RNA synthesis. Ann. Bot. 63, 3–17
Bochicchio, A., Vazzana, C., Raschi, A., Bartels, D., Salamini, F. (1988) Effect of desiccation on isolated embryos of maize. Onset of desiccation tolerance during development. Agronomie 8, 29–36
Bonham-Smith, P.C., Kapoor, M., Bewley, J.D. (1988) A comparison of the stress responses of Zea mays seedlings as shown by qualitative changes in protein synthesis. Can. J. Bot. 66, 1883–1890
Bray, E.A. (1988) Drought- and ABA-induced changes in polypeptide and mRNA accumulation in tomato leaves. Plant Physiol. 88, 1210–1214
Chandler, P.M., Walker-Simmons, M., King, R.W., Crouch, M., Close, T.J. (1988) Activation of nuclear and organelle genes after germination. J. Cell Biol. (Abstr.) 143, Suppl., 12C
Creelman, R.A. (1989) Abscisic acid physiology and biosynthesis in higher plants. Physiol. Plant. 75, 131–136
Feinberg, A.P., Vogelstein, B. (1983) A technique for radiolabeling DNA-restriction endonuclease fragments to high specific activity. Anal. Biochem. 132, 6–13
Forde, B.G., Kreis, M., Bahramian, M.B., Matthews, J.H., Miflin, B.J., Thompson, R.D., Bartels, D., Flavell, R.B. (1981) Molecular cloning and analysis of cDNA sequences derived from poly(A) + RNA from barley endosperm: identification of B hordein related clones. Nucleic Acids Res. 9, 6689–6707
Gaff, D.F. (1971) Desiccation-tolerant flowering plants in Southern Africa. Science 174, 1033–1034
Gaff, D.F. (1977) Desiccation tolerant vascular plants of Southern Africa. Oecologia 31, 95–109
Gomez, J., Sanchez-Martinez, D., Stiefel, V., Rigan, J., Puigdomenech, P., Pages, M. (1988) A gene induced by the plant hormone abscisic acid in response to water stress encodes a glycine-rich protein. Nature 334, 262–264
Gubler, U., Hoffmann, B.J. (1983) A simple and very efficient method for generating cDNA libraries. Gene 25, 263–269
Guerrero, F.D., Mullet, J.E. (1988) Reduction of turgor induces rapid changes in leaf translatable RNA. Plant Physiol. 88, 401–408
Grunstein, M., Hogness, D.S. (1975) Colony hybridization: a method for the isolation of cloned DNAs that contain a specific gene. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 72, 3961–3965
Harley, C.B. (1987) Hybridization of oligo(dt) to RNA on nitrocellulose. Gene Anal. Technol. 4, 17–22
Huynh, T.V., Young, R.A., Davis, R.W. (1985) Constructing and screening cDNA libraries in λ gt10 and λ gt11. In: DNA cloning: A practical approach, vol. 1, pp. 49–78, Glover, D.M., ed. IRL Press, Oxford, UK
Laemmli, U.K. (1970) Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature 227, 680–685
Maniatis, F., Fritsch, E.F., Sambrook, J. (1982) Molecular cloning: A laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., USA
Mundy, J., Chua, N.H. (1988) Abscisic acid and water-stress induce the expression of a novel rice gene. EMBO J. 7, 2279–2286
Murashige, T., Skoog, F. (1962) A revised medium for rapid growth and bioassays with tobacco tissue cultures. Physiol. Plant. 15, 473–479
Oliver, M.J., Bewley, J.D. (1984) Plant desiccation and protein synthesis. Plant Physiol. 74, 923–927
Southern, E.M. (1975) Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J. Mol. Biol. 98, 503–517
Tymms, M.J., Gaff, D.F., Hallam, N.D. (1982) Protein synthesis in the desiccation tolerant angiosperm Xerophyta villosa during dehydration. J. Exp. Bot. 33, 332–343
Volk, O.H., Leippert, H. (1971) Vegetationsverhältnisse im Windhoeker Bergland, Südwest-Afrika. In: Journal XXV-S.W.A., pp. 5–44, Wissenschaftl. Gesellschaft, Windhoek
Walter, H. (1955) The water economy and the hydrature of plants. Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. 6, 239–252
Weiler, E.W. (1986) Plant hormone immunoassays based on monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. In: Modern methods of plant analysis. Immunology in plant sciences, N.S., vol. 4, pp 1–17, Linskens, H.F., Jackson, J.F., eds. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Zeevaart, J.A.D., Creelman, R.A. (1988) Metabolism and physiology of abscisic acid. Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. Plant Mol. Biol. 39, 439–473
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
We wish to thank Professor O.H. Volk, University of Würzburg for plant material, Professor E.W. Weiler, University of Bochum, for the help with the ABA measurements, B. Eilts and M. Feck for technical assistance, H. Meyer z.A. and M. Kröpelin for help with growing the plants, D. Bock and M. Kaida for photographic work and M. Pasemann for typing the amnuscript. Part of this work was supported by the European Economic Community.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bartels, D., Schneider, K., Terstappen, G. et al. Molecular cloning of abscisic acid-modulated genes which are induced during desiccation of the resurrection plant Craterostigma plantagineum . Planta 181, 27–34 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00202321
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00202321