Register      Login
Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

A second member of the Nicotiana glauca lipid transfer protein gene family, NgLTP2, encodes a divergent and differentially expressed protein

Kimberly D. Cameron A , William A. Moskal Jr A B and Lawrence B. Smart A C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Faculty of Environmental and Forest Biology, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA.

B Current address: The Institute for Genomic Research, 9712 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.

C Corresponding author. Email: lbsmart@esf.edu

Functional Plant Biology 33(2) 141-152 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP05170
Submitted: 11 July 2005  Accepted: 19 September 2005   Published: 3 February 2006

Abstract

Multiple, highly similar members of the lipid transfer protein (LTP) family have been identified in Nicotiana glauca L. Here we describe four new members of the NgLTP gene family and further characterise one member. Three genes were isolated from a guard cell cDNA library and one (NgLTP2) was isolated from a genomic library. These four NgLTPs, as well as one described previously, NgLTP1, share >83% amino acid similarity, but the deduced protein sequence of NgLTP2 lacks the last five residues compared with other LTPs. Since the DNA sequences of the five genes are nearly identical, techniques based on nucleic acid hybridisation or PCR amplification were not sufficient to resolve the expression of the individual genes with confidence. Therefore, we characterised the expression pattern of NgLTP2, the only NgLTP gene that was not found in the guard cell cDNA library, using an NgLTP2 promoter–GUS reporter assay. GUS activity driven by the NgLTP2 promoter was assayed in three species of transgenic plants as an indicator of the endogenous pattern of expression of this gene. GUS was strongly induced upon wounding, whereas NgLTP1 was induced by drought stress. Sequence analysis of the NgLTP2 promoter revealed cis-acting motifs associated with induction by wounding. Differential expression of the NgLTP gene family, revealed by the different expression patterns of NgLTP1 and NgLTP2, is further evidence that these genes have multiple functions in N. glauca.

Keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana, cold stress, drought stress, hybrid poplar, LTP, N. glauca, transcription, trichomes, wounding.


Acknowledgments

We thank Dr Danilo Fernando for the use of his microscopes, Dr Haiying Liang for assistance with transformation of hybrid poplar, and Dr T Tzfira for advice on transformation of N. glauca. This work was supported by a grant from the USDA McIntire-Stennis Program to LBS.


References


Abe H, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K, Urao T, Iwasaki T, Hosokawa D, Shinozaki K (1997) Role of Arabidopsis MYC and MYB homologs in drought- and abscisic acid-regulated gene expression. The Plant Cell 9, 1859–1868.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Abe H, Urao T, Ito T, Seki M, Shinozaki K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K (2003) Arabidopsis AtMYC2 (bHLH) and AtMYB2 (MYB) function as transcriptional activators in abscisic acid signaling. The Plant Cell 15, 63–78.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Altschul SF, Madden TI, Schaffer AA, Zhang J, Zhang Z, Miller W, Lipman DJ (1997) Gapped BLAST and PSI-BLAST: a new generation of protein database search programs. Nucleic Acids Research 25, 3389–3402.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Baker SS, Wilhelm KS, Thomashow MF (1994) The 5′-region of Arabidopsis thaliana cor15ai has cis-acting elements that confer cold-, drought- and ABA-regulated gene expression. Plant Molecular Biology 24, 701–713.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Baranowskij N, Frohberg C, Prat S, Willmitzer L (1994) A novel DNA binding protein with homology to Myb oncoproteins containing only one repeat can function as a transcriptional activator. EMBO Journal 13, 5383–5392.
PubMed |
open url image1

Blein J-P, Coutos-Thevenot P, Marion D, Ponchet M (2002) From elicitins to lipid-transfer proteins: a new insight in cell signalling involved in plant defence mechanisms. Trends in Plant Science 7, 293–296.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Brown RL, Kazan K, McGrath KC, Maclean DJ, Manners JM (2003) A role for the GCC-box in jasmonate-mediated activation of the PDF1.2 gene of Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology 132, 1020–1032.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Buhot N, Douliez J-P, Jacquemard A, Marion D, Tran V , et al. (2001) A lipid transfer protein binds to a receptor involved in the control of plant defence responses. FEBS Letters 509, 27–30.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Busk PK, Jensen AB, Pages M (1997) Regulatory elements in vivo in the promoter of the abscisic acid responsive gene rab17 from maize. The Plant Journal 11, 1285–1295.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Cameron KD , Teece MA , Smart LB (2006) Increased accumulation of cuticular wax and expression of lipid transfer protein in response to periodic drying events in leaves of Nicotiana glauca. Plant Physiology (in press).

Canevascini S, Caderas D, Mandel T, Fleming AJ, Dupuis I, Kuhlemeier C (1996) Tissue-specific expression and promoter analysis of the tobacco ltp1 gene. Plant Physiology 112, 513–524.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Charvolin D, Douliez J-P, Marion D, Cohen-Addad C, Pebay-Peyroula E (1999) The crystal structure of a wheat nonspecific lipid transfer protein (ns-LTP1) complexed with two molecules of phospholipid at 2.1 Å resolution. European Journal of Biochemistry 264, 562–568.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Chen W, Provart NJ, Glazebrook J, Katagiri F, Chang H-S , et al. (2002) Expression profile matrix of Arabidopsis transcription factor genes suggests their putative functions in response to environmental stresses. The Plant Cell 14, 559–574.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Clough SJ, Bent AF (1998) Floral dip: a simplified method for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana. The Plant Journal 16, 735–743.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Coutos-Thevenot P, Jouenne T, Maes O, Guerbette F, Grosbois M , et al. (1993) Four 9-kDa proteins excreted by somatic embryos of grapevine are isoforms of lipid-transfer proteins. European Journal of Biochemistry 217, 885–889.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Da Silva P, Landon C, Industri B, Marais A, Marion D, Ponchet M, Vovelle F (2005) Solution structure of a tobacco lipid transfer protein exhibiting new biophysical and biological features. Proteins. Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics 59, 356–367.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Douliez J-P, Michon T, Elmorjani K, Marion D (2000) Structure, biological and technological functions of lipid transfer proteins and indolines, the major lipid binding proteins from cereal kernals. Journal of Cereal Science 32, 1–20.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Dubouzet JG, Sakuma Y, Ito T, Kasuga M, Dubouzet EG, Miura S, Seki M, Shinoazaki K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K (2003) OsBREB genes in rice, Oryza sativa L., encode transcription activators that function in drought-, high salt- and cold-responsive gene expression. The Plant Journal 33, 751–763.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Dunn MA, White AJ, Vural S, Hughes MA (1998) Identification of promoter elements in a low-temperature-responsive gene (blt4.9) from barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Plant Molecular Biology 38, 551–564.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Elliott KA, Shirsat AH (1998) Promoter regions of the extA extensin gene from Brassica napus control activation in response to wounding and tensile stress. Plant Molecular Biology 37, 675–687.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Fleming AJ, Mandel T, Hofmann S, Sterk P, De Vries SC, Kuhlemeier C (1992) Expression pattern of a tobacco lipid transfer protein gene within the shoot apex. The Plant Journal 2, 855–862.
PubMed |
open url image1

Gincel E, Simorre JP, Caille A, Marion D, Ptak M, Vovelle F (1994) Three-dimensional structure in solution of a wheat lipid-transfer protein from multidimensional 1H-NMR data — a new folding for lipid carriers. European Journal of Biochemistry 226, 413–422.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Grotewold E, Drummond BJ, Bowen B, Peterson T (1994) The myb-homologous P gene controls phylobaphene pigmentation in maize floral organs by directly activating a flavonoid biosynthetic gene subset. Cell 76, 543–553.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Guiderdoni E, Cordero MJ, Vignols F, Garcia-Garrido JM, Lescot M , et al. (2002) Inducibility by pathogen attack and developmental regulation of the rice Ltp1 gene. Plant Molecular Biology 49, 683–699.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Hentzen AE, Smart LB, Wimmers LE, Fang HH, Schroeder JI, Bennett AB (1996) Two plasmid membrane H+-ATPase genes expressed in guard cells of Vicia faba are also expressed throughout the plant. Plant and Cell Physiology 37, 650–659.
PubMed |
open url image1

Heuchelin SA, McNabb HS, Klopfenstein NB (1997) Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Populus × euramericana ‘Ogy’ using the chimeric CaMV35S-pin2 gene fusion. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 27, 1041–1048.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Higo K, Ugawa Y, Iwamoto M, Korenaga T (1999) Plant cis-acting regulatory DNA elements (PLACE) database: 1999. Nucleic Acids Research 27, 297–300.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Hollenbach B, Schreiber L, Hartung W, Dietz K-J (1997) Cadmium leads to stimulated expression of the lipid transfer protein genes in barley: implications for the involvement of lipid transfer proteins in wax assembly. Planta 203, 9–19.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Horvath BM, Bachem CWB, Trindade LM, Oortwijn MEP, Visser RGF (2002) Expression analysis of a family of nsLTP genes tissue specifically expressed throughout the plant and during potato tuber life cycle. Plant Physiology 129, 1494–1506.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Huang N, Sutliff TD, Litts JC, Rodriguez RL (1990) Classification and characterization of the rice alpha-amylase multigene family. Plant Molecular Biology 14, 655–668.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Jayasankar S, Li Z, Gray DJ (2003) Constitutive expression of Vitis vinifera thaumatin-like protein after in vitro selection and its role in anthracnose resistance. Functional Plant Biology 30, 1105–1115.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Jefferson RA, Kavanagh TA, Bevan MW (1987) GUS fusions: β-glucuronidase as a sensitive and versatile gene fusion marker in higher plants. EMBO Journal 6, 3901–3907.
PubMed |
open url image1

Jung HW, Kim W, Hwang BK (2003) Three pathogen-inducible genes encoding lipid transfer protein from pepper are differentially activated by pathogens, abiotic, and environmental stresses. Plant, Cell and Environment 26, 915–928.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Kader J-C (1996) Lipid-transfer proteins in plants. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology 47, 627–654.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Kader JC, Julienne M, Vergnolle C (1984) Purification and characterization of a spinach-leaf protein capable of transferring phospholipids from liposomes to mitochondria or chloroplasts. European Journal of Biochemistry 139, 411–416.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Kim SY, Chung HJ, Thomas TL (1997) Isolation of a novel class of bZIP transcription factors that interact with ABA-responsive and embryo-specification elements in the Dc3 promoter using a modified yeast one-hybrid system. The Plant Journal 11, 1237–1251.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Koltunow AM, Truettner J, Cox KH, Wallroth M, Goldberg RB (1990) Different temporal and spatial gene expression patterns occur during anther development. The Plant Cell 2, 1201–1224.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Kristensen AK, Brunstedt J, Nielsen KK, Roepstorff P, Mikkelsen JD (2000) Characterization of a new antifungal non-specific lipid transfer protein (NsLTP) from sugar beet leaves. Plant Science 155, 31–40.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Lerche MH, Kragelund BB, Bech LM, Poulsen FM (1997) Barley lipid-transfer protein complexed with palmitoyl CoA: the structure reveals a hydrophobic binding site that can expand to fit both large and small lipid-like ligands. Structure 5, 291–306.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Liang H, Maynard CA, Allen RD, Powell WA (2001) Increased Septoria musiva resistance in transgenic hybrid poplar leaves expressing a wheat oxalate oxidase gene. Plant Molecular Biology 45, 619–629.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Ma D-P, Tan H, Si Y, Creech RG, Jenkins JN (1995) Differential expression of a lipid transfer protein gene in cotton fiber. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1257, 81–84.
PubMed |
open url image1

Ma D-P, Liu H-C, Tan H, Creech RG, Jenkins JN, Chang Y-F (1997) Cloning and characterization of a cotton lipid transfer protein specifically expressed in fiber cells. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1344, 111–114.
PubMed |
open url image1

Maldonado AM, Doerner P, Dixon RA, Lamb CJ, Cameron RK (2002) A putative lipid transfer protein involved in systemic acquired resistance signalling in Arabidopsis. Nature 419, 399–403.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Marchler-Bauer A, Anderson JB, DeWeese-Scott C, Fedorova ND, Geer LY , et al. (2003) CDD: a curated Entrez database of conserved domain alignments. Nucleic Acids Research 31, 383–387.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Masuta C, Furuno M, Tanaka H, Yamada M, Koiwai A (1992) Molecular cloning of a cDNA clone for tobacco lipid transfer protein and expression of the functional protein in Escherichia coli. FEBS Letters 311, 119–123.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Mena M, Cejudo FJ, Isabel-Lamoneda I, Carbonero P (2002) A role for the DOF transcription factor BPBF in the regulation of gibberellin-responsive genes in barley aleurone. Plant Physiology 130, 111–119.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Molina A, Garcia-Olmedo F (1993) Developmental and pathogen-induced expression of three barley genes encoding lipid transfer proteins. The Plant Journal 4, 983–991.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Molina A, Garcia-Olmedo F (1997) Enhanced tolerance to bacterial pathogens caused by the transgenic expression of barley lipid transfer protein LTP2. The Plant Journal 12, 669–675.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Morita A, Umemura T, Kuroyanagi M, Futsuhara Y, Perata P, Yamaguchi J (1998) Functional dissection of a sugar-repressed alpha-amylase gene (Ramy1A) promoter in rice embryos. FEBS Letters 423, 81–85.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Mozo T, Hooykaas PJJ (1992) Factors affecting the rate of T-DNA transfer from Agrobacterium tumefaciens to Nicotiana glauca plant cells. Plant Molecular Biology 19, 1019–1030.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Nielsen KK, Neilsen JE, Madrid SM, Mikkelsen JD (1996) New antifungal proteins from sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) showing homology to non-specific lipid transfer proteins. Plant Molecular Biology 31, 539–552.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Park C-J, Shin R, Park JM, Lee G-J, You J-S, Paek K-H (2002) Induction of pepper cDNA encoding a lipid transfer protein during the resistance response to tobacco mosaic virus. Plant Molecular Biology 48, 243–254.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Plant AL, Cohen A, Moses MS, Bray EA (1991) Nucleotide sequence and spatial expression pattern of a drought- and abscisic acid-induced gene of tomato. Plant Physiology 97, 900–906. open url image1

Pollock MA, Oppenheimer DG (1999) Inexpensive alternative to M&S medium for selection of Arabidopsis plants in culture. BioTechniques 26, 254–257.
PubMed |
open url image1

Poznanski J, Sodano P, Suh SW, Lee JY, Ptak M, Vovelle F (1999) Solution structure of a lipid transfer protein extracted from rice seeds. Comparison with homologous proteins. European Journal of Biochemistry 259, 692–708.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Pyee J, Yu HS, Kolattukudy PE (1994) Identification of a lipid transfer protein as the major protein in the surface wax of broccoli (Brassica oleracea) leaves. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics 311, 460–468.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Rushton PJ, Torres JT, Parniske M, Wernert P, Hahlbrock K, Somssich IE (1996) Interaction of elicitor-induced DNA-binding proteins with elicitor response elements in the promoters of parsley PR1 genes. EMBO Journal 18, 5690–5700. open url image1

Rushton PJ, Reinstadler A, Lipka V, Lippok B, Somssick IE (2002) Synthetic plant promoters containing defined regulatory elements provide novel insights into pathogen- and wound-induced signaling. The Plant Cell 14, 749–762.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Sambrook, J , Fritsch, E ,  and  Maniatis, T (1989). ‘Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual.’ (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press: Cold Spring Harbor)

Smart LB, Cameron KD, Bennett AB (2000) Isolation of genes predominantly expressed in guard cells and epidermal cells of Nicotiana glauca. Plant Molecular Biology 42, 857–869.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Smart LB, Moskal WA, Cameron KD, Bennett AB (2001) MIP genes are down-regulated under drought stress in Nicotiana glauca. Plant and Cell Physiology 42, 686–693.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Sohal AK, Pallas JA, Jenkins GI (1999) The promoter of a Brassica napus lipid transfer protein gene is active in a range of tissues and stimulated by light and viral infection in transgenic Arabidopsis. Plant Molecular Biology 41, 75–87.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Soufleri IA, Vergnolle C, Miginiac E, Kader JC (1996) Germination-specific lipid transfer protein cDNAs in Brassica napus L. Planta 199, 229–237.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Sutoh K, Yamauchi D (2003) Two cis-acting elements necessary and sufficient for gibberellin-upregulated proteinase expression in rice seeds. The Plant Journal 34, 635–645.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Thoma S, Hecht U, Kippers A, Botella J, De Vries S, Somerville C (1994a) Tissue-specific expression of a gene encoding a cell wall-localized lipid transfer protein from Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology 105, 35–45.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Thoma S, Hecht U, Kippers A, Botella J, de Vries S, Somerville C (1994b) Tissue-specific expression of a gene encoding a cell wall-localized lipid transfer protein from Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology 105, 35–45.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Treviño MB, O’Connell MA (1998) Three drought-responsive members of the nonspecific lipid-transfer protein gene family in Lycopersicon pennellii show different developmental patterns of expression. Plant Physiology 116, 1461–1468.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Tsuboi S, Suga T, Takishima K, Mamiya G, Matsui K, Ozeki Y, Yamada M (1991) Organ-specific occurrence and expression of the isoforms of nonspecific lipid transfer protein in castor bean seedlings, and molecular cloning of a full-length cDNA for a cotyledon-specific isoform. Journal of Biochemistry 110, 823–831.
PubMed |
open url image1

Urao T, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K, Urao S, Shinozaki K (1993) An Arabidopsis myb homolog is induced by dehydration stress and its gene product binds to the conserved MYB recognition sequence. The Plant Cell 5, 1529–1539.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Vignols F, Wigger M, Garcia-Garrido JM, Grellet F, Kader J-C, Delseny M (1997) Rice lipid transfer protein (LTP) genes belong to a complex multigene family and are differentially regulated. Gene 195, 177–186.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Vroemen CW, Langeveld S, Mayer U, Ripper G, Jurgens G, van Kammen A, de Vries SC (1996) Pattern formation in the Arabidopsis embryo revealed by position-specific lipid transfer protein gene expression. The Plant Cell 8, 783–791.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Wan CY, Wilkins TA (1994) A modified hot borate method significantly enhances the yield of high-quality RNA from cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Analytical Biochemistry 223, 7–12.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Yamauchi D (2001) A TGACGT motif in the 5′-upstream region of alpha-amylase gene from Vigna mungo is a cis-element for expression in cotyledons of germinated seeds. Plant and Cell Physiology 42, 635–641.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Yu D, Chen C, Chen Z (2001) Evidence for an important role of WRKY DNA binding proteins in the regulation of NPR1 gene expression. The Plant Cell 13, 1527–1540.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Yubero-Serrano E-M, Moyano E, Medina-Escobar N, Muñoz-Blanco J, Caballero J-L (2003) Identification of a strawberry gene encoding a non-specific lipid transfer protein that responds to ABA, wounding and cold stress. Journal of Experimental Botany 54, 1865–1877.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1