First published online April 1, 2005; 10.1104/pp.104.057521
Plant Physiology 138:433-440 (2005)
© 2005 American Society of Plant Biologists
BIOCHEMICAL PROCESSES AND MACROMOLECULAR STRUCTURES
O-Acetylserine and the Regulation of Expression of Genes Encoding Components for Sulfate Uptake and Assimilation in Potato1
Laura Hopkins,
Saroj Parmar,
Anna B aszczyk,
Holger Hesse,
Rainer Hoefgen and
Malcolm J. Hawkesford*
Crop Performance and Improvement Division, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ, United Kingdom (L.H., S.P., M.J.H.); Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 02–106 Warsaw, Poland (A.B.); and Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Department of Molecular Physiology, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (H.H., R.H.)
cDNAs encoding a high-affinity sulfate transporter and an adenosine 5'-phosphosulfate reductase from potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv Désirée) have been cloned and used to examine the hypothesis that sulfate uptake and assimilation is transcriptionally regulated and that this is mediated via intracellular O-acetylserine (OAS) pools. Gas chromotography coupled to mass spectrometry was used to quantify OAS and its derivative, N-acetylserine. Treatment with external OAS increased sulfate transporter and adenosine 5'-phosphosulfate reductase gene expression consistent with a model of transcriptional induction by OAS. To investigate this further, the Escherichia coli gene cysE (serine acetyltransferase EC 2.3.1.30), which synthesizes OAS, has been expressed in potato to modify internal metabolite pools. Transgenic lines, with increased cysteine and glutathione pools, particularly in the leaves, had increased sulfate transporter expression in the roots. However, the small increases in the OAS pools were not supportive of the hypothesis that this molecule is the signal of sulfur (S) nutritional status. In addition, although during S starvation the content of S-containing compounds decreased (consistent with derepression as a mechanism of regulation), OAS pools increased only following extended starvation, probably as a consequence of the S starvation. Taken together, expression of these genes may be induced by a demand-driven model, via a signal from the shoots, which is not OAS. Rather, the signal may be the depletion of intermediates of the sulfate assimilation pathway, such as sulfide, in the roots. Finally, sulfate transporter activity did not increase in parallel with transcript and protein abundance, indicating additional posttranslational regulatory mechanisms.
1 This work was supported by Framework IV and V of the European Union (grant nos. BIO4–CT97–2182, QLRT–2000–00103, and QLRT–2001–02928), the European Molecular Biology Organization (grant no. 9303 to A.B.), and Max-Planck Society (grants to H.H., R.H.). Rothamsted Research receives grant-aided support from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council of the United Kingdom.
Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.104.057521.
* Corresponding author; e-mail malcolm.hawkesford{at}bbsrc.ac.uk; fax 44–1582–763010.
Received December 1, 2004;
returned for revision February 4, 2005;
accepted February 13, 2005.
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