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Plant Physiol. (1999) 119: 1527-1534
An Arabidopsis GSK3/shaggy-Like Gene That
Complements Yeast Salt Stress-Sensitive Mutants Is Induced by NaCl
and Abscisic Acid
Hai Lan Piao,
Kyeong Tae Pih,
Jeong Hwa Lim,
Shin Gene Kang,
Jing Bo Jin,
Sung Hee Kim, and
Inhwan Hwang*
Department of Molecular Biology (H.L.P., J.H.L., S.G.K., J.B.J.,
S.H.K., I.H.), and Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Research
Center (K.T.P., I.H.), Gyeongsang National University, Chinju,
660-701, Korea
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ABSTRACT |
GSK3/shaggy-like genes
encode kinases that are involved in a variety of biological processes.
By functional complementation of the yeast calcineurin mutant strain
DHT22-1a with a NaCl stress-sensitive phenotype, we isolated the
Arabidopsis cDNA AtGSK1, which encodes a
GSK3/shaggy-like protein kinase. AtGSK1 rescued the
yeast calcineurin mutant cells from the effects of high NaCl. Also, the
AtGSK1 gene turned on the transcription of the NaCl
stress-inducible PMR2A gene in the calcineurin mutant
cells under NaCl stress. To further define the role of AtGSK1 in the
yeast cells we introduced a deletion mutation at the
MCK1 gene, a yeast homolog of GSK3, and examined the
phenotype of the mutant. The mck1 mutant exhibited a
NaCl stress-sensitive phenotype that was rescued by AtGSK1. Also,
constitutive expression of MCK1 complemented the
NaCl-sensitive phenotype of the calcineurin mutants. Therefore, these
results suggest that Mck1p is involved in the NaCl stress signaling in
yeast and that AtGSK1 may functionally replace Mck1p in the NaCl stress
response in the calcineurin mutant. To investigate the biological
function of AtGSK1 in Arabidopsis we examined the expression of
AtGSK1. Northern-blot analysis revealed that the
expression is differentially regulated in various tissues with a high
level expression in flower tissues. In addition, the
AtGSK1 expression was induced by NaCl and exogenously
applied ABA but not by KCl. Taken together, these results suggest that
AtGSK1 is involved in the osmotic stress response in Arabidopsis.
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INTRODUCTION |
Salt stress, such as that caused by high concentrations of NaCl,
causes hyperosmotic stress, imbalance in the cellular ion concentration, and general toxicity that adversely affects plant development. Numerous studies have been conducted to delineate the
cellular changes that occur upon exposure to osmotic stress (Walton,
1980 ; DuPont, 1992 ; Bohnert et al., 1995 ; Niu et al., 1995 ). It has
been noted that different plant species employ a variety of different
mechanisms to cope with osmotic stress. Responses are especially well
understood with regard to physiological and metabolic changes (LaRosa
et al., 1987 ; Binzel et al., 1988 ; Skriver and Mundy, 1990 ; Delauney
and Verma, 1993; Bohnert et al., 1995 ; Niu et al., 1995 ). However, not
much has been learned about the mechanism of osmotic stress signaling
in plants. In contrast, the signaling mechanism has been studied in
detail in yeast. There it has been found that the NaCl stress or high
osmotic stress signal is mediated by a MAP kinase pathway (Maeda et
al., 1994 , 1995 ). Osmosensor molecules, such as Sln1p and Sho1p, which
are located on the plasma membrane, initiate the signaling pathway (Ota
and Varshavsky, 1993 ). The signal then reaches various kinases such as
Ssk1p, Pbs2p, and Hog1p (Maeda et al., 1994 , 1995 ; Posas et al., 1996 ).
In addition to the MAP kinase pathway, yeast has another signal
transduction pathway that is specific for high NaCl stress. This
pathway includes calcineurin, a phosphatase dependent on
Ca2+, and calmodulin (Nakamura et al., 1993 ;
Mendoza et al., 1994 ; Wieland et al., 1995 ). Therefore, it is possible
that external high NaCl stress increases intracellular
Ca2+ concentration, which then causes calmodulin
to transmit signals to other, downstream components, such as
calcineurin (Matheos et al., 1997). It is also very likely
that protein kinases and protein phosphatases are involved in signal
transduction in plants. In fact, many genes encoding
protein kinases have been shown to be induced under high NaCl
conditions and under exogenous ABA treatment (Anderberg and
Walker-Simmons, 1992 ; Urao et al., 1994 ; Hwang and Goodman, 1995 ; Jonak
et al., 1996 ; Mizoguchi et al., 1996 ). It has been suggested that
protein kinases may be involved in osmotic stress signal transduction.
Recently, the genes at the ABA-insensitive 1 and 2 loci of Arabidopsis
have been cloned and shown to encode homologs of phosphatases (Leung et
al., 1994 , 1997 ; Meyer et al., 1994 ). These phosphatases have a
Ca2+-binding domain, which implies that
Ca2+ may play a role in the osmotic stress signal
transduction in plants. Also, the SOS3 gene, the mutation of
which renders Arabidopsis hypersensitive to a high NaCl concentration,
encodes a Ca2+ sensor homolog, which further
confirms the involvement of Ca2+ in NaCl stress
signaling (Liu and Zhu, 1998 ). However, in most cases the evidence for
the involvement of protein kinases in the NaCl stress or osmotic stress
signal pathway is rather circumstantial, and to our knowledge no
in vivo substrates for the kinases have been isolated. Also, the in
vivo targets of the phosphatases remain to be defined.
Originally, GSK3 was identified as a kinase that phosphorylates
glycogen synthase (Embi et al., 1980 ; Woodgett, 1990 ), but it has been
recently shown that GSK3 is involved in developmental processes such as
cell fate determination in Drosophila melanogaster (Ruel et
al., 1993 ), Xenopus (Dominguez et al., 1995 ), and
Dictyostelium (Harwood et al., 1995 ), and in insulin
regulation and transcriptional activation of a variety of proteins in
mammalian cells (Nikolakaki et al., 1993 ; Welsh and Proud, 1993 ). In
yeast there are two GSK3 homologs, Mck1p and Mds1p (Neigeborn and
Mitchell, 1991 ; Puziss et al., 1994 ). Mutation at the MCK1
gene showed a cold-sensitive phenotype, a temperature-sensitive
phenotype, and loss of chromosomes during growth on benomyl. Based on
these observations it has been suggested that Mck1p plays an important
role in the regulation of kinetochore activity and entry into meiosis.
In plants many genes encoding homologs of GSK3 have been identified by
virtue of the conservation of the primary structure, i.e. the amino
acid sequence, and in many cases it has been suggested that they are involved in developmental processes (Bianchi et al., 1993 , 1994 ; Pay et
al., 1993 ; Dercroocq-Ferrant et al., 1995; Jonak et al., 1995 ; Dornelas
et al., 1998).
In an effort to isolate genes involved in the NaCl stress signal
transduction pathway, we screened Arabidopsis cDNA clones for
complementation of the yeast strain DHT22-1a, which has deletion mutations in both calcineurin genes. In this paper we report that Arabidopsis cDNA AtGSK1 encodes a protein highly homologous
to the glycogen synthase kinase 3 of mammalian cells and to the
shaggy gene of D. melanogaster, and that it
can rescue the NaCl stress-sensitive phenotype of the yeast calcineurin
and mck1 mutants. In addition, we show that the expression
of the AtGSK1 gene is induced by NaCl and ABA treatments in
Arabidopsis.
The accession number for the nucleotide sequence of the AtGSK1 cDNA
reported in this article is AF019927.
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MATERIALS AND METHODS |
Screening of cDNA Clones
To screen for cDNAs complementing a NaCl stress-sensitive strain
of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), DHT22-1a (MATa
trp1 ade2 ura3 can1-100 cmp::LEU2
cmp2::HIS3) (Nakamura et al., 1993 ), an Arabidopsis
expression library constructed in pFL61, was introduced into competent
cells of the mutant yeast by the LiCl method (Ito et al., 1983 ).
Approximately one million colonies were obtained on SC-Ura plates and
pooled to yield a transformed yeast library. The transformed yeast
cells were then plated at a density of 107 cells
per YPD plate (12 × 12 cm) supplemented with 0.9 M NaCl. Putative positive colonies were obtained
4 d after plating. The putative positive colonies were then
rescreened on 0.9 M NaCl YPD plates. We selected
one of them, clone 49, for further characterization. Plasmid DNA was
isolated from the yeast cells and reintroduced into DHT22-1a cells to
confirm the complementation (Ausubel et al., 1989 ). Finally, the
inserts of clone 49 were subcloned into pBluescript and were sequenced
with the dideoxy termination method using a dye-terminator cycle
sequencing kit. The sequencing reaction was analyzed with the help of
an automatic sequencing machine (ABI, Columbia, MD). To isolate a
full-length cDNA clone, the insert of a positive clone was used as a
hybridization probe in the screening of an Arabidopsis leaf cDNA
library constructed in ZAPII. Positive clones were in vivo excised
as pBluescript clones. The clone that appeared to contain a full-length
cDNA was named AtGSK1. The whole sequence of the cDNA was
obtained by sequencing serial deletion constructs.
Northern- and Southern-Blot Analyses
Total RNA was isolated from Arabidopsis seedlings as described
previously (Ausubel et al., 1989 ). Fifteen micrograms of total RNA was
separated in a 1.2% northern-blot gel and transferred onto nylon
membranes (Biotrans, ICN). After transfer, RNA was UV cross-linked to
the membrane and used in northern-blot analysis. For Southern-blot
analysis genomic DNA was prepared according to a previously described
protocol (Watson and Thompson, 1986 ), and 2 µg of the genomic DNA was
digested with restriction endonucleases. To prepare a specific probe
for hybridization two PCR primers were designed:
5 -AACTGTGCATGTCTGAAG-3 and 5 -TACGTATCTGTCAGAATTG-3 . The PCR
product was amplified from the cDNA clone, gel purified, and used for
labeling with [ -32P]dATP by PCR.
Hybridization and washings were carried out according to a published
protocol (Church and Gilbert, 1984 ).
Complementation of the Yeast Mutation
The full-length cDNA designated AtGSK1 was subcloned
into pVT-U, an expression vector with the ADH promoter and
terminator and the URA3 selection marker. The resulting construct was
introduced into DHT22-1a cells, which were plated on SC-Ura plates
(Ausubel et al., 1989 ). The transformed cells were grown in YPD medium overnight, and 104 cells were spotted on YPD agar
plates supplemented with 1.0 M NaCl. The growth
was examined after 4 d at 30°C (Cunningham and Fink, 1996 ).
Assay of the PMR2A Gene Activation
To examine the transcriptional activation of the PMR2A
gene in the mutant cells, the AtGSK1 cDNA was subcloned into
an expression vector, pJG10 (a modified version of pJG4-5; the
GAL1 promoter has been replaced by the ADH
promoter) (Zervos et al., 1993 ). The construct was introduced into NaCl
stress-sensitive cells, DHT22-1a (MATa trp1 ade2 ura3
can1-100 cmp::LEU2 cmp2::HIS3)
cells, or mck1 (MATa trp1 ade2 ura3
can1-100 mck1:HIS3) cells, and transformants were
selected on SC-Trp plates. Subsequently the reporter gene construct
PMR2A:lacZ (Cunningham and Fink, 1996 ) was introduced into
the cells harboring the AtGSK1 cDNA, and the cells were
plated on SC-Ura plates. The transformants were rescreened on
SC-Ura-Trp plates. Yeast cells harboring both genes were cultured at
30°C overnight and inoculated to an A600
of 0.1 into YPD medium supplemented with 0.5 M
NaCl. Cells were harvested at various time points. Cell extracts were
prepared, and -galactosidase activity was measured according to
published protocols (Cunningham and Fink, 1996 ).
Construction of the mck1 Deletion Mutant
The MCK1 gene was isolated from yeast genomic DNA
by PCR using two primers: 5 -GGAGTTAAGCCCAAGAC-3 and
5 -ACAGCGGATCAAAGGTG-3 . The PCR product was subcloned into pBluescript
and confirmed by partial sequencing of both ends. The His3
gene fragment was inserted into the NcoI site of the
MCK1 gene. A DNA fragment containing the
mck1:His3 gene was then introduced into DHT22-1b (MATa
trp1 leu2 ade2 ura3 his3 can1-100) to generate a
mck1 mutant strain, and colonies were selected on SC-His
plates. The insertion of the His3 gene was confirmed by
PCR amplification using the MCK1-specific primers and
genomic DNA obtained from the His3+ cells. To
assay the NaCl stress sensitivity, mck1 mutant cells were
plated on the YPD plate containing 1.0 M NaCl.
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RESULTS |
Isolation of the AtGSK1 cDNA
To clone genes involved in the NaCl stress signaling pathway in
plants, we attempted to isolate cDNAs that complement a yeast NaCl
stress-sensitive strain. We decided to use the yeast strain DHT22-1a,
which has deletion mutations in both genes encoding catalytic subunits
of yeast calcineurin (Nakamura et al., 1993 ). An Arabidopsis leaf cDNA
library constructed in pFL61 was introduced into the yeast cells, and
approximately 1 × 106 yeast transformants
were obtained. To screen for complementing cDNA clones, the transformed
yeast cells were plated on YPD plates supplemented with 0.9 M NaCl. The screening resulted in five positive clones from
which we chose clone 49 to be characterized in detail. The insert of
the cDNA clone was transferred into pBluescript for sequencing. The
sequence of the 5 end revealed that the cDNA encodes aprotein with a
high degree of amino acid sequence homology to GSK3 of mammalian cells
(Woodgett, 1990 ) and to the shaggy gene of
Drosophila malanogaster (Ruel et al., 1993 ).
However, the cDNA appeared to be missing approximately 25 amino acid
residues from the N terminus when the deduced amino acid sequence of
the cDNA was compared with other homologs in the public database. Therefore, to obtain a full-length cDNA, an Arabidopsis ZAPII leaf
cDNA library was screened again with the insert of clone 49 as the
hybridization probe. The screening resulted in the isolation of 10 positive clones. pBluescript clones were obtained from the clones by in vivo excision, and the 5 ends of the these pBluescript
clones were sequenced to confirm the identity. These cDNA clones
appeared to be identical with a minor difference in size. Therefore,
the clone that contained the largest insert was named AtGSK1
(Arabidopsis
thaliana GSK3
1). The full sequence of the cloned cDNA was obtained by
the dideoxy termination method using a dye-terminator cycle sequencing
kit. The cDNA insert consists of 1572 bp with a putative initiation codon at nucleotide position 26, which is followed by 1224 bp of the
open reading frame and 323 bp of the 3 -untranslated region.
Since the original cDNA clone was missing 25 amino acid residues from
the N terminus, we introduced into the mutant yeast strain the
full-length cDNA under the control of the ADH promoter. The
yeast transformant was reexamined on a 1.0 M NaCl
plate. As shown in Figure 1, AtGSK1
rescued the NaCl stress-sensitive phenotype of the DHT22-1a cells,
which confirmed the original finding. This result suggests that the
missing 25 amino acid residues may not affect the ability of AtGSK1 to
complement the yeast calcineurin mutant.

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| Figure 1.
Complementation of DHT22-1a mutant (mt) cells with
AtGSK1. The DHT22-1a (MATa trp1 ade2 ura3
can1-100 cmp::LEU2
cmp2::HIS3) mutant cells were transformed with the
full-length AtGSK1 under the ADH1 promoter. The
transformed cells were plated on a YPD plate containing 1.0 M NaCl and incubated at 30°C for 4 d. wt, Wild
type.
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Sequence Analysis of AtGSK1
The amino acid sequence of the AtGSK1 cDNA (accession
no. AF019927) was highly homologous to seven ASK sequences in the database. AtGSK1 was nearly identical to ASK iota
at the level of nucleotide sequence with only minor differences such as
the sizes of the 5 -untranslated region and the
poly(A+) tail, suggesting that the
AtGSK1 cDNA may be identical to ASK iota
(Dornelas et al., 1998 ). Conceptual translation of the
AtGSK1 cDNA results in a protein with 407 amino acid
residues and with a molecular mass of 46 kD. Also, there are six
additional Arabidopsis sequences with high degree of homology in the
public databases. The amino acid sequence of AtGSK1 was compared with
protein sequences obtained from the public databases using the BLAST
program (Altshul et al., 1990 ). As shown in Figure
2, AtGSK1 exhibits a high degree of amino
acid sequence homology with known GSK3 homologs in a variety of
organisms, such as mammals, D. melanogaster, and
Arabidopsis. AtGSK1 shares 100% amino acid sequence similarity with
ASK-iota, 65% with ASK-gamma, 56% with D. melanogaster
shaggy, 38% with rat GSK3 , and 36% with yeast Mck1p.

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| Figure 2.
Alignment of the amino acid sequence of AtGSK1
with other GSK3 homologs. The deduced amino acid sequence AtGSK1 is
aligned with sequences obtained from public databases. ASK-i, ASK-g,
GSK3-rat, shaggy-Dr, and MCK1-S.ce indicate the following: ASK-iota
(accession no. 1480078), ASK-gamma (accession no. 1170714), rat GSK3
(accession no. 125374), D. melangaster shaggy (accession
no. 125701), and yeast Mck1p, respectively. The gaps were introduced to
maximize the alignment. The identical amino acid residues between
AtGSK1 and other homologs are shaded.
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Genomic Structure of the AtGSK1 Gene
To investigate the copy number of the AtGSK1 gene in
the Arabidopsis genome, Southern-blot analysis was carried out using the whole insert as a hybridization probe. Hybridization was carried out at a high stringency condition (Church and Gilbert, 1984 ). As shown
in Figure 3, there are two types of
bands: a strongly hybridizing band and weakly hybridizing bands. Thus,
the Southern-blot result suggested that the AtGSK1 gene is a
member of multicopy gene family. In fact, a BLAST search using the
nucleotide sequence of the AtGSK1 gene revealed that there
are other highly homologous genes, such as shaggy-like
kinase-etha (accession no. 2129739). Therefore, it is also
possible that the AtGSK1 cDNA hybridized with homologs of
these genes at the high stringency condition we used for Southern-blot
analysis.

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| Figure 3.
Southern-blot analysis of the
AtGSK1 gene. Genomic DNA was digested with restriction
enzymes and size separated onto a 0.8% agarose gel. The DNA was then
transferred onto a nylon membrane and UV cross-linked. Hybridization
was carried out with the AtGSK1 cDNA at 65°C
overnight. E, H, and S indicate EcoRI,
HindIII, and SacI, respectively.
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Expression of the AtGSK1 Gene
To gain insight into the AtGSK1 gene expression,
total RNA was isolated from various tissues and used in northern-blot
analyses. We first used the whole insert as a hybridization probe. As
shown in Figure 4, the
AtGSK1 transcript was most abundantly present in root
and silique tissue and at a slightly lower level in flower tissue,
whereas it was nearly undetectable in leaf tissue. However, when an
AtGSK1-specific probe was used as a hybridization probe, the expression pattern was different. As seen in Figure 4, the transcript level was highest in the flower tissue followed by siliques
but was quite low in leaf and root tissues. The results suggest that,
depending on the tissue, the AtGSK1 gene is subject to
differential regulation and in addition that there may be other closely
related genes that are highly expressed in root tissue.

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| Figure 4.
Tissue-specific expression of the
AtGSK1 gene. Total RNA (15 µg) isolated from various
tissues was size separated onto a 1.2% formaldehyde/agarose gel and
transferred onto a nylon membrane. The northern-blot gel was stained
with EtBr, and the gel photograph was taken before transfer to examine
the loading of the RNA samples. The whole cDNA (Whole) or the specific
probe (Specific) of the AtGSK1 cDNA (nucleotide
positions 1149-1513) was used as the hybridization probe,
respectively. Hybridizations were carried out in a church buffer at
65°C overnight. The blots were washed with 2× SSC once at room
temperature and twice with 0.1× SSC, 0.1% SDS at 60°C for 20 min.
F, L, R, and S indicate flower, leaf, root, and silique,
respectively.
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Since the AtGSK1 gene was isolated by rescue of a NaCl
stress-sensitive yeast mutant, we examined the possibility of induction of the gene's expression under NaCl stress conditions. To apply NaCl
stress to Arabidopsis plants, we treated Arabidopsis seedlings grown
for 1 week in liquid culture with 0.15 M NaCl or 100 µM ABA. The Arabidopsis seedlings were harvested at
various times, and total RNA was prepared to examine the
AtGSK1 transcript level. As shown in Figure
5, the AtGSK1 transcript
level accumulated to high levels with time upon NaCl treatment. Also,
when the Arabidopsis seedlings were treated with exogenous ABA, the
transcript level was increased. However, the pattern of induction was
different from that of the NaCl treatment. The transcript level was
increased within 30 min, reached the maximum at 1 h, and decreased
again at 6 h after the ABA treatment. Next, we addressed whether
the induction is specific to NaCl stress. We treated Arabidopsis
seedlings with 200 mM KCl in a similar manner and examined
the level of AtGSK1 transcripts. As shown in Figure 5,
the treatment of Arabidopsis seedlings with KCl did not affect the
expression of AtGSK1. The results suggested that the
induction of AtGSK1 expression is specific to high NaCl
stress.

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| Figure 5.
Induction of the AtGSK1 gene
expression. A, Arabidopsis seedlings grown in Murashige and Skoog
liquid medium were treated with 150 mM NaCl and 100 µM ABA for the indicated times. B, Arabidopsis seedlings
were treated with 150 mM and 200 mM KCl for 6 h. Total RNA (15 µg) was analyzed by northern-blot analysis using the
AtGSK1-specific probe. To examine the loading of the RNA
samples, the northern blot was hybridized with 18S rDNA. Con, No
treatment.
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AtGSK1 Activates the NaCl Stress Signal Pathway in
Yeast
Since AtGSK1 is a protein kinase homolog, it is likely that AtGSK1
activates the NaCl stress signal transduction pathway in yeast that
turns on the transcription of genes encoding proteins involved in the
regulation of the internal concentrations of Na+.
To investigate this further, we examined whether AtGSK1 can activate
NaCl stress-inducible genes in yeast. It has been shown that the
PMR2A gene, which encodes Na+-ATPase
involved in Na+ transport, is induced by NaCl
stress (Wieland et al., 1995 ). We therefore introduced a reporter gene,
PMR2A:lacZ, together with the AtGSK1 cDNA into
DHT22-1a cells. The overnight culture of the doubly transformed yeast
cells was then inoculated into YPD medium supplemented with 0.5 M NaCl, and the cultures were harvested at
various times. -Galactosidase activity was measured in the cell
extracts prepared from the doubly transformed cells. As shown in Figure
6, cells expressing the AtGSK1
cDNA exhibited increasing -galactosidase activity with time of NaCl
treatment, similar to what happens when the PMR2A:lacZ gene
is expressed in the isogenic wild-type cells, DHT22-1b. In contrast,
mutant cells harboring a control plasmid did not show any measurable -galactosidase activity until 1 h. However, the mutant cells eventually expressed the -galactosidase encoded by
PMR2A:lacZ because the PMR2A gene can also be
induced by other signaling pathways (data not shown) (Cunningham and
Fink, 1996 ). This result clearly shows that AtGSK1 can function in the
NaCl stress signal transduction pathway of yeast.

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| Figure 6.
Activation of the PMR2A gene in
calcineurin mutant cells by AtGSK1. The AtGSK1 cDNA was
ligated into an expression vector pJG10. The resulting construct was
introduced into DHT22-1a cells, and the cells were screened on SC-Trp
plates. The transformed yeast cells were then transformed with a
reporter construct, PMR2A:lacZ, and the cells were
plated on SC-Ura plates. The double transformants were grown in YPD
medium at 30°C overnight, and the overnight culture was inoculated to
an A600 of 0.1 into YPD medium. The culture
was further incubated until mid-log phase, and NaCl was added to 0.5 M NaCl. Cells were harvested at various time points. Cell
extracts were prepared and assayed for -galactosidase activity.
Three independent experiments were carried out and similar results were
obtained. , , and indicate the wild type with
PMR2A:lacZ, the mutant with pJG10 and
PMR2A:lacZ, and the mutant with AtGSK1
and PMR2A:lacZ, respectively.
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AtGSK1 Complements mck1 Mutant Cells in Yeast
Two GSK3/shaggy-like protein kinase genes,
MCK1 (Neigeborn and Mitchell, 1991 ) and MDS1
(Puziss et al., 1994 ), have been identified in yeast. Therefore, we
investigated a possibility that AtGSK1 may functionally
mimic any of the yeast GSK3/shaggy homologs in the NaCl
stress signaling in the calcineurin mutant. However, it was not known
whether either Mck1p or Mds1p is involved in the NaCl stress signal
transduction pathway. Therefore, first we generated
mck1:His3 and mds1:His3 mutants and examined
whether these mutant cells show NaCl stress sensitivity. As shown in
Figure 7, the mck1 mutant
cells showed sensitivity to high NaCl concentration. However, the
mds1 mutant cells did not show NaCl stress sensitivity (data
not shown). Next, we investigated whether AtGSK1 gene can complement the NaCl stress-sensitive phenotype of the mck1
mutant cells. As shown in Figure 7, AtGSK1 rescued the NaCl
sensitivity of the mutant. Thus, this result clearly suggests that
AtGSK1 can functionally replace Mck1p in the yeast cells. Next, we
addressed whether MCK1 can rescue the calcineurin mutant from the
NaCl-sensitive phenotype. We introduced the ADH1:MCK1 hybrid
gene into calcineurin mutant cells and then examined the phenotype of
the mutant cells. As shown in Figure 8,
MCK1 complemented the NaCl-sensitive phenotype of DHT22-1a
cells. To further characterize the mutant we introduced the chimeric
PMR2A:lacZ gene into mck1 mutant cells and
assayed for the induction of the PMR2A:lacZ gene in the
mutant by 0.5 M NaCl stress for 1 h. As shown in
Figure 9, the level of -galactosidase activity was markedly reduced in the mck1 mutant cells.
Next, we examined whether AtGSK1 can induce the PMR2A gene
under the NaCl stress conditions. As shown in Figure 9, AtGSK1
partially restored the inducibility of the PMR2A:lacZ gene
in the mutant. Therefore, these results suggest that Mck1p plays a role
in the NaCl stress signal transduction pathway and that AtGSK1 can
functionally replace Mck1p in NaCl stress signaling in the yeast cells.

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| Figure 7.
Complementation of the mck1 mutant
by the AtGSK1 gene. The AtGSK1 gene was
introduced into mck1 mutant cells, and the transformed
cells were examined for the complementation of temperature sensitivity
and NaCl sensitivity of the mutants. The transformed cells were grown
liquid SC-Ura medium at 30°C overnight. The overnight
cultures were diluted in YPD medium, plated on YPD, and incubated at
37°C for 3 d to examine temperature sensitivity. To examine NaCl
sensitivity the cells were plated in a serial dilution on YPD
supplemented with 1.0 M NaCl and incubated at 30°C for
3 d. The numbers on the left side indicate the density of yeast
cells.
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| Figure 8.
Complementation of the calcineurin mutant by the
MCK1 gene. The MCK1 gene was introduced
into calcineurin mutant (mt) cells, and the transformed cells were
examined for the complementation of NaCl sensitivity of the mutants.
The transformed cells were grown in liquid SC-Ura medium
at 30°C overnight. The overnight cultures were diluted in YPD medium,
plated in a serial dilution on YPD supplemented with 1.0 M
NaCl, and incubated at 30°C for 3 d. The numbers on the left
side indicate the density of yeast cells. wt, Wild type.
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| Figure 9.
Induction of PMR2A:lacZ in the
mck1 mutant cells. The PMR2A:lacZ and
AtGSK1 genes were introduced into the
mck1 mutant cells. The -galactosidase activity was
assayed at 1 h, as described in the Figure 6 legend. Three
independent assays were carried out and showed nearly identical
results.
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DISCUSSION |
To understand a mechanism of signal transduction, it is important
to identify the components involved in the pathway; however, it is
difficult to isolate such components. In this study we exploited the
yeast mutant strain DHT22-1a, which has deletions at both genes of the
calcineurin catalytic subunit (Nakamura et al., 1993 ), thus leaving it
sensitive to NaCl stress. The Arabidopsis cDNA AtGSK1, which
can rescue this yeast calcineurin mutant from demise under high NaCl
conditions, encodes a protein highly homologous to GSK3 found in rat
and other GSK3-like proteins in other organisms, including Arabidopsis
(Woodgett, 1990 ; Ruel et al., 1993 ; Blair, 1994 ; Dornelas et al.,
1998 ). In Arabidopsis alone, more than five genes encoding proteins
highly homologous to GSK3/shaggy have been identified (Jonak
et al., 1995 ; Dornelas et al., 1998). However, in most
plants it is not known in which biological processes the encoded
proteins function. Also, it has not been previously shown that GSK3
homologs are involved in the NaCl stress or osmotic stress signal
transduction pathways. The complementation of the NaCl-sensitive
phenotype by AtGSK1 in the calcineurin mutant raised a possibility that
AtGSK1 is involved in the NaCl stress signal transduction
pathway in plants. This notion was further supported by the fact that
AtGSK1 can turn on the transcription of the PMR2A gene in yeast.
In yeast two genes, MCK1 and MDS1, encode
homologs of GSK3 (Neigeborn and Michell, 1991; Puziss et al., 1994 ). It
is possible that AtGSK1 may functionally replace Mck1p and Mds1p in the
NaCl stress signal transduction in the transformed yeast cells.
However, previous studies have shown that these proteins are involved
in processes such as meiosis and temperature sensitivity in yeast, but
it is not known whether these proteins are also involved in the NaCl
stress responses. Therefore, in this study we first addressed whether
Mck1p and Mds1p play a role in the NaCl stress signal transduction
pathway. The mck1 mutant strain, which has an insertion mutation at the MCK1 gene, exhibited an increased sensitivity to a high
NaCl condition in addition to the temperature sensitivity. However, the
mds1:His3 mutant did not show any noticeable phenotype. Also, the induction level of the PMR2A gene was greatly
reduced in the mck1 mutant cells. When AtGSK1 was
introduced into the mck1 mutant, AtGSK1 rescued
the NaCl stress sensitivity and partially restored the inducibility of
the PMR2A gene in the mutant. Therefore, these results
suggest that AtGSK1 can functionally replace Mck1p in the NaCl stress
response in yeast. Here we did not address the detailed mechanism of
the Mck1p in the NaCl stress signal transduction pathway in yeast.
Recently, Matheos et al. (1997) have shown that calcineurin directly
interacts with Tcn1p to activate the PMR2A gene in yeast,
indicating that no additional components are necessary for the
activation. However, calcineurin also plays a role in the activation of
PMR2A and the NaCl stress response by a Tcn1p-independent
pathway. Therefore, it is possible that Mck1p may be involved in this
Tcn1p-independent pathway for the activation of the PMR2A
gene. Since expression of the PMR2A gene is regulated by
various mechanisms, it is equally possible that Mck1p may activate the
expression of the PMR2A gene by other pathways, such as the
Hog pathway, or by influencing the carbon metabolism in yeast.
Previously, it has been shown that other homologous genes, such as
AtK-1 and MsK, are expressed at
high levels in floral tissue (Pay et al., 1993 ; Jonak et al., 1995 ).
Northern-blot analysis suggests that AtK-1 may be involved in
developmental processes, as is the case with homologous genes in
animals. However, it is more likely that plant GSK3 homologs are
involved in several diverse biological processes, an example being the
NaCl stress signal transduction pathway. The data presented here
strongly suggest that AtGSK1 is involved in the NaCl stress signal
transduction pathway in Arabidopsis. Recently, Pardo et al. (1998) have
shown that constitutively activated yeast calcineurin in tobacco plants can substantially increase tolerance to high NaCl stress. Therefore, these results suggest that a calcineurin homolog functions in the
NaCl-adaptation process in plants. If this is the case in plants, it is
possible that AtGSK1 may be involved in a calcineurin signal
transduction pathway in plants. The notion that AtGSK1 may be involved
in the NaCl stress signal transduction pathway was further supported by
induction of AtGSK1 expression upon NaCl and ABA treatments.
However, additional studies are needed to fully elucidate the detailed
mechanism by which AtGSK1 plays a role in the NaCl stress response in
plants.
 |
FOOTNOTES |
*
Corresponding author; e-mail ihhwang{at}nongae.gsnu.ac.kr; fax
82-591-759-9363.
Received August 12, 1998;
accepted December 13, 1998.
1
This work was supported in part by grants from
the Korea Ministry of Science and Technology and from Korea Science and
Engineering Foundation to the Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
Research Center, Gyeongsang National University.
 |
ABBREVIATIONS |
Abbreviations:
SC, synthetic complete.
Ura, uracil.
YPD, yeast peptone dextrose.
 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
We would like to thank Dr. T. Miyakawa (Hiroshima University,
Japan) for the yeast strains DHT22-1a and DHT22-1b, and Dr. G.R. Fink
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge) for the reporter
construct PMR2A:lacZ.
 |
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