Evgeniya V. Kupriyanova

Studies were performed on the Arabidopsis thaliana double mutant plants parg1 exa1 characterized by cell death along the leaf margin, activation of express

Studies were performed on the Arabidopsis double mutant plants parg1 exa1 characterized by cell death along the leaf margin, activation of expression of immune receptor genes, PR-genes and hypersensitive response genes, which is a sign of autoimmunity. At the same time, unlike other autoimmunity mutations, the parg1 exa1 mutant demonstrated the acquisition of pluripotency by leaf cells and the ability to regenerate new leaf margins. Because of the unusual phenotype, this study analyzed in depth the transcriptome of young leaves of mutant and wild-type plants. The mutant was found to have increased expression levels of all major components of the immune response, including genes for Ca2+ conducting channels, NADPH oxidases, salicylic acid synthesis genes, jasmonic acid, and many others. The findings suggest that PARG1 and EXA1 genes, which control the level of poly(ADP-ribosylation) and the process of nonsensemediated RNA degradation, respectively, are important regulators of the immune response. Their function is essential to prevent overactivation of defense systems in plants.

Plants are able to adjust their developmental program in response to incremental environmental changes by reprogramming the epigenomes of the cells. This process, known as facultative epigenetic developmental control, underlies plant developmental plasticity and the amazing diversity of morphotypes, which arises from the changes in cell fates. How plants determine when epigenome reprogramming should occur is largely unclear. Here, we show that the Arabidopsis PARG1 and EXA1 genes, encoding poly(ADP‐ribose) glycohydrolase and GYF domain protein involved in nonsense‐mediated mRNA decay, respectively, act synergistically in maintaining leaf cell identity. Loss of their function in Arabidopsis tae mutant triggers autoimmunity and wounding response, alters transcription of a number of epigenetic regulators, initiates the acquisition of pluripotency by cells of the developed leaf and ectopic outgrowths and buds formation. The dependence of the cell fate on the activity level of PARG1 and EXA1 genes indicates that these interacting genes may function as an important regulator of facultative epigenetic control of plant development.

Bacteria and fungi emit a huge variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can provide a valuable arsenal for practical use. However, the biological activities and functions of the VOCs are poorly understood. This work aimed to study the action of individual VOCs on the bacteria Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Arabidopsis thaliana plants, and fruit flies Drosophila melanogaster. VOCs used in the work included ketones, alcohols, and terpenes. The potent inhibitory effect on the growth of A. tumefaciens was shown for 2-octanone and isoamyl alcohol. Terpenes (−)-limonene and (+)-α-pinene practically did not act on bacteria, even at high doses (up to 400 µmol). 2-Butanone and 2-pentanone increased the biomass of A. thaliana at doses of 200–400 μmol by 1.5–2 times; 2-octanone had the same effect at 10 μmol and decreased plant biomass at higher doses. Isoamyl alcohol and 2-phenylethanol suppressed plant biomass several times at doses of 50–100 μmol. Plant seed germination was most strongly suppressed by isoamyl alcohol and 2-phenylethanol. The substantial killing effect (at low doses) on D. melanogaster was exerted by the terpenes and the ketones 2-octanone and 2-pentanone. The obtained data showed new information about the biological activities of VOCs in relation to organisms belonging to different kingdoms.

Plant cells cultivated in vitro are a convenient model for studying the genetic and physiological mechanisms necessary for the cells to acquire a state of pluripotency. Earlier studies on a model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. have identified the key role of genes that determine the pluripotency of cells in the shoot apical meristem in de novo shoot regeneration in tissue culture. In accordance with this, cells of mutant plants with a higher level of expression of pluripotency genes were characterized by an increased potential for de novo shoot regeneration. The tae mutant was the exception to this rule. The mutant resumed the expression of pluripotency genes and cell proliferation at the late stages of leaf development, which indicates a violation of the mechanisms for maintaining epigenetic cellular memory. At the same time, leaf cells cultured in vitro showed a lower proliferative activity compared to the wild type and were not capable of de novo regeneration of shoots. A decrease in the regenerative potential of cultured cells of the tae mutant indicates an important role of epigenetic memory in the response of cells to exogenous hormones. Impaired epigenetic memory of leaf cells of the tae mutant and differences in their proliferative and regenerative capacities in planta and in vitro make this mutant a unique model for studying the role of epigenetic modifications in the regulation of cell pluripotency.

Auxin is an important inductor of organogenesis. During leaf development, local sites with high auxin concentration initiate the formation of leaf primordia and venation, control the growth...

Plants are widely used for food and beverage preparation, most often in the form of complex mixtures of dried and ground parts, such as teas, spices or herbal medicines. Quality control of such products is important due to the potential health risks from the presence of unlabelled components or absence of claimed ones. A promising approach to analyse such products is DNA metabarcoding due to its high resolution and sensitivity. However, this method’s application in food analysis requires several methodology optimizations in DNA extraction, amplification and library preparation. In this study, we present such optimizations. The most important methodological outcomes are the following: (1) the DNA extraction method greatly influences amplification success; (2) the main problem for the application of metabarcoding is DNA purity, not integrity or quantity; and (3) the “non-amplifiable” samples can be amplified with polymerases resistant to inhibitors. Using this optimized workflow, we analysed a broad set of plant products (teas, spices and herbal remedies) using two NGS platforms. The analysis revealed the problem of both the presence of extraneous components and the absence of labelled ones. Notably, for teas, no correlation was found between the price and either the absence of labelled components or presence of unlabelled ones; for spices, a negative correlation was found between the price and presence of unlabelled components.

DNA topoisomerase TOP1α plays a specific role in Arabidopsis thaliana development and is required for stem cell regulation in shoot and floral meristems. Recently, a new role independent of meristem functioning has been described for TOP1α, namely, flowering time regulation. The same feature had been detected by us earlier for fas5, a mutant allele of TOP1α. In this study we clarify the effects of fas5 on bolting initiation and analyze the molecular basis of its role in flowering time regulation. We show that fas5 mutation leads to a constitutive shade avoidance syndrome, accompanied by leaf hyponasty, petiole elongation, lighter leaf color and early bolting. Other alleles of TOP1α demonstrate the same shade avoidance response. RNA sequencing confirmed the activation of shade avoidance gene pathways in fas5 mutant plants. It also revealed the repression of many genes controlling floral meristem identity and organ morphogenesis. Our research further expands the knowledge of TOP1α function in plant development and reveals that besides stem cell maintenance TOP1α plays an important new role in regulating the adaptive plant response to light stimulus and flower development.

Polymorphisms of 62 peroxidase genes derived from Arabidopsis thalianawere investigated to evaluate evolutionary dynamics and divergence of peroxidase proteins. By comparing divergence of duplicated...

The role of the gene ER2 in plant development has been studied by the analysis of the erecta2 ( er2) mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. It was shown that the mutation er2provides pleiotropic...