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PLANTS INTERACTING WITH OTHER ORGANISMS

Seven in Absentia Proteins Affect Plant Growth and Nodulation in Medicago truncatula^1,[W],[OA]

Department of Plant Systems Biology, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology and Department of Molecular Genetics, Ghent University, B–9052 Gent, Belgium (G.D.H., A.D.K., R.D.R., S.R., W.V.d.V., M.R.C., C.V., M.H., S.G.); and Institut des Sciences du Végétal, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, F–91198 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France (P.M., E.K.)

Protein ubiquitination is a posttranslational regulatory process essential for plant growth and interaction with the environment. E3 ligases, to which the seven in absentia (SINA) proteins belong, determine the specificity by selecting the target proteins for ubiquitination. SINA proteins are found in animals as well as in plants, and a small gene family with highly related members has been identified in the genome of rice (Oryza sativa), Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), Medicago truncatula, and poplar (Populus trichocarpa). To acquire insight into the function of SINA proteins in nodulation, a dominant negative form of the Arabidopsis SINAT5 was ectopically expressed in the model legume M. truncatula. After rhizobial inoculation of the 35S:SINAT5DN transgenic plants, fewer nodules were formed than in control plants, and most nodules remained small and white, a sign of impaired symbiosis. Defects in rhizobial infection and symbiosome formation were observed by extensive microscopic analysis. Besides the nodulation phenotype, transgenic plants were affected in shoot growth, leaf size, and lateral root number. This work illustrates a function for SINA E3 ligases in a broad spectrum of plant developmental processes, including nodulation.

² Present address: Department Biologie I, Genetik, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, Grosshaderner Str. 2–4, D–82152 Planegg, Germany.

³ Present address: Institut des Sciences du Végétal, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Avenue de la Terrasse, F–91198 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France.

The authors responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) are: Marcelle Holsters (marcelle.holsters{at}psb.ugent.be) and Sofie Goormachtig (sofie.goormachtig{at}psb.ugent.be).

^[W] The online version of this article contains Web-only data.

^[OA] Open Access articles can be viewed online without a subscription.

www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.108.119453

^* Corresponding author; e-mail marcelle.holsters{at}psb.ugent.be.

Received March 27, 2008; accepted June 24, 2008; published July 3, 2008.

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